Any child who has assembled a leaf collection can prove that plants come with an astounding array of leaf shapes, and researchers know that this variation can mean big differences in a farmer\u2019s bottom line. Now, a new discovery gives plant breeders key genetic information they need to develop crop varieties that make the most of these leaf-shape differences.<\/p>\n
In a paper published Dec. 20 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences<\/em><\/a>, NC State researchers and colleagues from the Danforth Plant Science Center, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Cotton Incorporated describe how they used genomic and molecular tools to find the location of the DNA sequence that determines major leaf shapes in upland cotton.<\/p>\n The researchers also describe how they manipulated the genetic code to alter the shape of a cotton plant\u2019s leaves in potentially beneficial ways.<\/p>\n This discovery represents a significant step toward developing cotton varieties that produce higher yields at less cost to the farmers, said Dr. Vasu Kuraparthy<\/a>, an associate professor with NC State\u2019s Department of Crop and Soil Sciences<\/a> and the project\u2019s principal investigator.<\/p>\n Scientists have recognized that cotton plants with leaves that have five deep lobes, like the leaves of the okra plant, offer advantages to farmers over what researchers refer to as \u201cnormal\u201d leaves. Dr. Ryan Andres, a postdoctoral researcher who worked in Kuraparthy\u2019s lab while he was a graduate student, said the so-called \u201cokra\u201d leaf cottons are less susceptible to boll rot than the stably yielding \u201cnormal\u201d leaf cotton varieties.<\/p>\n The okra leaves also allow a spray to be more evenly dispersed across a plant and are associated with higher rates of flowering and earlier rates of maturity in cotton, Andres added.<\/p>\n To determine if they\u2019d found the DNA sequence that controlled major leaf shapes in cotton, researchers infected okra-leaf plants with a modified virus that silenced the target gene. That led to a temporary production of normal leaves until the plants overcame the experimental virus and reverted to okra leaf shape.<\/p>\n Kuraparthy and Andres said they hope that this leaf architecture leads to an ideal cotton cultivar, or ideotype, capable of combining the advantages of the two leaf shapes.<\/p>\n \u201cWe were able to create our ideotype but only in a transient fashion. One day we want to able to do it in a heritable manner, and the first step in that is finding the gene and proving that this is the gene and these are the polymorphisms in the gene that cause these changes,\u201d Kuraparthy said. \u201cThis research does that.\u201d<\/p>\n Dr. Dan Chitwood, assistant member at the Donald Danforth Plant Center in St. Louis, Missouri, explained that, beyond being more conducive to cotton cultivation, the okra leaf type also increases the expression of photosynthetic genes, \u201cproviding a link between leaf shape and the ability of plants to convert light into energy for growth.\u201d<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Dr. Candace Haigler, another co-author on the paper, said, \u201cThis research represents the leading edge of using modern genetic and plant breeding tools to modify the native traits of crop plants in beneficial ways. We now have the ability to identify and employ ancestral cotton traits to benefit producers and consumers within commercial cultivars.\u201d<\/p>\n Dr. Jeff Mullahey, head of NC State\u2019s Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, said the study not only helped address cotton growers\u2019 needs but also exposed graduate students to training in state-of-the-art plant breeding and genomics technologies.<\/p>\n Cotton Incorporated funded the research, and Dr. Don C. Jones, the research and marketing company\u2019s director of breeding, genetics and biotechnology, called the discovery a \u201chomerun\u201d in the field of cotton breeding.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Cotton Incorporated Fellowship that supported\u00a0Ryan\u00a0was a sound investment for growers, and Dr. Kuraparthy\u2019s leadership during this course of study was a super effort,\u201d Jones said.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n This post was originally published<\/a> in College of Agriculture and Life Sciences News.<\/em><\/p>","protected":false,"raw":"Any child who has assembled a leaf collection can prove that plants come with an astounding array of leaf shapes, and researchers know that this variation can mean big differences in a farmer\u2019s bottom line. Now, a new discovery gives plant breeders key genetic information they need to develop crop varieties that make the most of these leaf-shape differences.\r\n\r\nIn a paper published Dec. 20 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences<\/em><\/a>, NC State researchers and colleagues from the Danforth Plant Science Center, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Cotton Incorporated describe how they used genomic and molecular tools to find the location of the DNA sequence that determines major leaf shapes in upland cotton.\r\n\r\nThe researchers also describe how they manipulated the genetic code to alter the shape of a cotton plant\u2019s leaves in potentially beneficial ways.\r\n\r\nThis discovery represents a significant step toward developing cotton varieties that produce higher yields at less cost to the farmers, said Dr. Vasu Kuraparthy<\/a>, an associate professor with NC State\u2019s Department of Crop and Soil Sciences<\/a> and the project\u2019s principal investigator.\r\n\r\nScientists have recognized that cotton plants with leaves that have five deep lobes, like the leaves of the okra plant, offer advantages to farmers over what researchers refer to as \u201cnormal\u201d leaves. Dr. Ryan Andres, a postdoctoral researcher who worked in Kuraparthy\u2019s lab while he was a graduate student, said the so-called \u201cokra\u201d leaf cottons are less susceptible to boll rot than the stably yielding \u201cnormal\u201d leaf cotton varieties.\r\n\r\nThe okra leaves also allow a spray to be more evenly dispersed across a plant and are associated with higher rates of flowering and earlier rates of maturity in cotton, Andres added.\r\n\r\nTo determine if they\u2019d found the DNA sequence that controlled major leaf shapes in cotton, researchers infected okra-leaf plants with a modified virus that silenced the target gene. That led to a temporary production of normal leaves until the plants overcame the experimental virus and reverted to okra leaf shape.\r\n\r\nKuraparthy and Andres said they hope that this leaf architecture leads to an ideal cotton cultivar, or ideotype, capable of combining the advantages of the two leaf shapes.\r\n\r\n\u201cWe were able to create our ideotype but only in a transient fashion. One day we want to able to do it in a heritable manner, and the first step in that is finding the gene and proving that this is the gene and these are the polymorphisms in the gene that cause these changes,\u201d Kuraparthy said. \u201cThis research does that.\u201d\r\n\r\nDr. Dan Chitwood, assistant member at the Donald Danforth Plant Center in St. Louis, Missouri, explained that, beyond being more conducive to cotton cultivation, the okra leaf type also increases the expression of photosynthetic genes, \u201cproviding a link between leaf shape and the ability of plants to convert light into energy for growth.\u201d\r\n\r\nMeanwhile, Dr. Candace Haigler, another co-author on the paper, said, \u201cThis research represents the leading edge of using modern genetic and plant breeding tools to modify the native traits of crop plants in beneficial ways. We now have the ability to identify and employ ancestral cotton traits to benefit producers and consumers within commercial cultivars.\u201d\r\n\r\nDr. Jeff Mullahey, head of NC State\u2019s Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, said the study not only helped address cotton growers\u2019 needs but also exposed graduate students to training in state-of-the-art plant breeding and genomics technologies.\r\n\r\nCotton Incorporated funded the research, and Dr. Don C. Jones, the research and marketing company\u2019s director of breeding, genetics and biotechnology, called the discovery a \u201chomerun\u201d in the field of cotton breeding.\r\n\r\n\u201cThe Cotton Incorporated Fellowship that supported\u00a0Ryan\u00a0was a sound investment for growers, and Dr. Kuraparthy\u2019s leadership during this course of study was a super effort,\u201d Jones said.\r\n\r\n "},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The discovery opens the door to producing cotton varieties ideally suited for agriculture, says Dr. Vasu Kuraparthy of NC State’s Department of Crop and Soil Sciences.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":588,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"source":"ncstate_wire","ncst_custom_author":"","ncst_show_custom_author":false,"ncst_dynamicHeaderBlockName":"","ncst_dynamicHeaderData":"","ncst_content_audit_freq":"","ncst_content_audit_date":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-586","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nc-state"],"displayCategory":null,"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cals.ncsu.edu\/horticultural-science\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/586","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cals.ncsu.edu\/horticultural-science\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cals.ncsu.edu\/horticultural-science\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cals.ncsu.edu\/horticultural-science\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cals.ncsu.edu\/horticultural-science\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=586"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/cals.ncsu.edu\/horticultural-science\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/586\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":670,"href":"https:\/\/cals.ncsu.edu\/horticultural-science\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/586\/revisions\/670"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cals.ncsu.edu\/horticultural-science\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/588"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cals.ncsu.edu\/horticultural-science\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=586"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cals.ncsu.edu\/horticultural-science\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=586"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cals.ncsu.edu\/horticultural-science\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=586"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}