A series of fiber-specific mutants, or germplasms, have been recently used in the study of fiber development. In the current study, scanning electron microscopy （SEM） was used to investigate developmental differences in lint and fuzz initiation in different genotypes （Gossypium hirsutum） of upland cotton. These fiber mutants included dominant naked seed N1, recessive naked seed n2, Xuzhou-142 lintless-fuzzless （XZ142WX）, Xinxiangxiaojilintless-fuzzless （XinWX）, Xinxiangxiaojilinted-fuzzless （XinFLM）, with TM-1, the cytogenetic and genetic experimental standard stock, as the control. Characteristics of fiber initiation were analyzed from -1 to ＋1 days post anthesis （dpa） and at 4 and 5 dpa for fuzz initiation. Our data suggested that lint initiation centered on day of anthesis （0dpa）, and elongated significantly at 1dpa, while fuzz initiation began at 4dpa, although the shape of fuzz protrusions differed from that of lint fibers. Fiber initiation occurred first on the ovule funicular crest. Compared to TM-1, there was a noted retardation in development and fiber protrusion in N1 and XinFLM. Microscopy data also demonstrated that lintless-fuzzless mutants （XZ142WX and XinWX） developed irregular protrusions during early developmental stages, which were unable to grow into fiber.
Da-Yong Zhang Tian-Zhen Zhang, Zhi-Qin Sang Wang-Zhen Guo
为加速分子标记在芝麻研究中的应用,利用网上现有的芝麻EST(expressed sequencetags)数据信息,开展了芝麻EST-SSR功能性标记的开发和利用研究。在所有的3328条芝麻EST序列中共确认得到1785条非冗余EST序列。其中,在含有微卫星重复的148条序列中共检测有155个EST-SSR。非冗余EST序列总长为774.27kb,平均每4.99kb含有一个EST-SSR。EST-SSR的分布频率和特征分析表明,以AG/TC为重复基元(motif)的SSR出现最多,占总SSR的37.42%。利用这些序列,设计开发了50对EST-SSR引物,并分别选用36个芝麻、2个棉花、2个大豆和2个油葵进行多态性和通用性研究。其中44对引物在供试芝麻材料中扩增出条带,共产生108个位点,平均每对引物产生2.45个位点,多态信息含量(polymorphism information content,PIC)平均值为0.390。根据遗传相似性系数进行聚类,有26个芝麻材料聚类在两个大的亚类(III和IV)中,聚类结果表明芝麻的基因型与地理来源之间没有必然的联系。此外,分别有2对、3对和4对引物可以在棉花、大豆和油葵中进行通用性扩增。本研究证实这种全新开发的芝麻EST-SSR标记在芝麻遗传多样性分析、遗传图谱构建以及比较基因组等研究方面有广阔的利用前景。
