Thellungiella halophila ST103 enhances salt tolerance in Gossypium hirsutum

Abstract

Abstract Background Cotton (Gossypium hirsutum), the major textile fiber crop of the world, is negatively affected by salinity. It leads to the induction of adverse effects on growth and development of cotton. The overall yield of cotton faces major drawback once they are grown in saline soil. To improve cotton salt tolerance, transgenic approach offers a fast and effective way but it relies on the availability of salt tolerance genes. Results In this study, we have reported the evaluation of ThST103, a homologue of Arabidopsis ozone-induced protein (AtOZI1) in Thellungiella halophila, in enhancing salt tolerance in cotton. Overexpression of ThST103 enabled cotton plants to germinate and grow better than the wild types under salt stress. The transgenic lines showed enhanced survival rate in the saline environment and experienced less oxidative damage compared with the wild types. In the field, the transgenic cotton lines produced higher yield than the wild type in saline soil. Transcriptomic comparison analyses of ThST103 overexpression lines versus the wild type revealed upregulated genes enriched in salt stress tolerance and ion homeostasis. Conclusions Our results demonstrate that ThST103 has the capability to improve salt tolerance in cotton. It can be used in cotton breeding for salt tolerance cultivars.