Co-expression of AtNHX1 and TsVP improves the salt tolerance of transgenic cotton and increases seed cotton yield in a s

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Co-expression of AtNHX1 and TsVP improves the salt tolerance of transgenic cotton and increases seed cotton yield in a saline field Cheng Cheng & Ying Zhang & Xiugui Chen & Jiuling Song & Zhiqiang Guo & Kunpeng Li & Kewei Zhang Received: 22 November 2017 / Accepted: 2 January 2018 # Springer Science+Business Media B.V., part of Springer Nature 2018

Abstract Salinity is one of the major abiotic stressors affecting cotton production. The AtNHX1 gene from Arabidopsis thaliana and the TsVP gene from Thellungiella halophila were co-expressed in cotton (cv. GK35) to improve its salt tolerance. Cotton with overexpressed AtNHX1-TsVP genes had higher emergence rates and higher dry matter accumulation under salt stress in the greenhouse and better emergence rates and survival rates in a saline field compared to the WT. More importantly, the cotton with overexpressed AtNHX1-TsVP genes had higher seed cotton yield in the saline field. The growth of transgenic cotton with overexpression of the AtNHX1-TsVP genes may be related to the accumulation of Na+, K+ and Ca2+ in leaves under salt stress. The accumulation of these cations Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s11032-018-0774-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. C. Cheng : J. Song : Z. Guo : K. Li : K. Zhang (*) School of Life Science, Shandong University, 27 Shanda South Road, Jinan, Shandong 250100, China e-mail: [email protected] C. Cheng : J. Song : Z. Guo : K. Li : K. Zhang Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Plant Cell Engineering and Germplasm Enhancement, Jinan 250100, China Y. Zhang Dongying Economic and Technological Development Zone Dongkai Experimental School, Dongying 257091, China X. Chen Institute of Cotton Research, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Anyang 455000, China

could improve the ability to maintain ion homeostasis and osmotic potential in plant cells under salt stress, thereby conferring cells with higher relative water content and maintaining higher carbon assimilation capacity. These results reveal that overexpression of AtNHX1TsVP significantly enhances the tolerance of transgenic cotton to high salinity compared to WT. This study aids efforts of breeding salt-tolerant cotton to achieve the strategy of Bwestward, eastward, northward^ in Chinese cotton production. Keywords Transgenic cotton . Salt tolerance . TsVP . AtNHX1 . Seed cotton yield . Ion accumulation

Introduction Salt stress is the one of the major limiting factors in agricultural grain production and has adverse effects on land availability and crop yield. It is estimated that approximately 20% of agricultural land and 50% of cropland in the world suffer from salt stress. Salt in soil causes decreased plant yield by influencing physiology and biochemical processes of the plant (Chandna et al. 2013). High salinity levels result in intracellular ionic imbalance (Niu et al. 1995). Restoration of ion homeostasis in plants is an important response mechanism of intracellular ionic i