title: Phytosterol content and the campesterol:sitosterol ratio influence cotton fiber development: role of phytosterols in cell elongation.
abstract: Phytosterols play an important role in plant growth and development, including cell division, cell elongation, embryogenesis, cellulose biosynthesis, and cell wall formation. Cotton fiber, which undergoes synchronous cell elongation and a large amount of cellulose synthesis, is an ideal model for the study of plant cell elongation and cell wall biogenesis. The role of phytosterols in fiber growth was investigated by treating the fibers with tridemorph, a sterol biosynthetic inhibitor. The inhibition of phytosterol biosynthesis resulted in an apparent suppression of fiber elongation in vitro or in planta. The determination of phytosterol quantity indicated that sitosterol and campesterol were the major phytosterols in cotton fibers; moreover, higher concentrations of these phytosterols were observed during the period of rapid elongation of fibers. Furthermore, the decrease and increase in campesterol:sitosterol ratio was associated with the increase and decease in speed of elongation, respectively, during the elongation stage. The increase in the ratio was associated with the transition from cell elongation to secondary cell wall synthesis. In addition, a number of phytosterol biosynthetic genes were down-regulated in the short fibers of ligon lintless-1 mutant, compared to its near-isogenic wild-type TM-1. These results demonstrated that phytosterols play a crucial role in cotton fiber development, and particularly in fiber elongation.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Biotechnology and Crop Quality Improvement, Ministry of Agriculture/Biotechnology Research Center, Southwest University, Chongqing, 400716, China.
authors.forename: Shasha
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Deng
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Biotechnology and Crop Quality Improvement, Ministry of Agriculture/Biotechnology Research Center, Southwest University, Chongqing, 400716, China.
authors.forename: Ting
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Biotechnology and Crop Quality Improvement, Ministry of Agriculture/Biotechnology Research Center, Southwest University, Chongqing, 400716, China.
authors.forename: Kunling
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tan
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Biotechnology and Crop Quality Improvement, Ministry of Agriculture/Biotechnology Research Center, Southwest University, Chongqing, 400716, China.
authors.forename: Mingyu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Biotechnology and Crop Quality Improvement, Ministry of Agriculture/Biotechnology Research Center, Southwest University, Chongqing, 400716, China.
authors.forename: Fang
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Biotechnology and Crop Quality Improvement, Ministry of Agriculture/Biotechnology Research Center, Southwest University, Chongqing, 400716, China.
authors.forename: Yunlan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhai
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Biotechnology and Crop Quality Improvement, Ministry of Agriculture/Biotechnology Research Center, Southwest University, Chongqing, 400716, China.
authors.forename: Shue
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ye
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Biotechnology and Crop Quality Improvement, Ministry of Agriculture/Biotechnology Research Center, Southwest University, Chongqing, 400716, China.
authors.forename: Yuehua
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Xiao
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Biotechnology and Crop Quality Improvement, Ministry of Agriculture/Biotechnology Research Center, Southwest University, Chongqing, 400716, China.
authors.forename: Lei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Hou
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Biotechnology and Crop Quality Improvement, Ministry of Agriculture/Biotechnology Research Center, Southwest University, Chongqing, 400716, China.
authors.forename: Yan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Pei
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Biotechnology and Crop Quality Improvement, Ministry of Agriculture/Biotechnology Research Center, Southwest University, Chongqing, 400716, China. luomingyuan@swu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Ming
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Luo
mesh_terms: D002784:Cholesterol / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000378:metabolism; D032561:Cotton Fiber; D013058:Mass Spectrometry; D010840:Phytosterols / Q000378:metabolism*; D012855:Sitosterols / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D010840:Phytosterols; D012855:Sitosterols; C021273:campesterol; C025473:gamma-sitosterol; D002784:Cholesterol
keywords: cotton fiber; gene expression; ligon lintless-1; phytosterols; tridemorph