Phenotypic Changes Caused By Overexpressing A LIM Domain Gene In Cotton

China is the largest cotton producer and consumer around the world. As an important economic and fiber crop, cotton is very important for the Chinese economy. As a main product of cotton, the quantitative and qualitative improvements to cotton fibers have been a focus of cotton breeding. The distinctive trait of the cotton seed is that about 30% seed-coat epidermal cells develop into fiber cells. Cotton fiber cell is one of the longest cells in plant kingdom, and its secondary cell wall is nearly completely composed of cellulose. So the cotton fiber is a good model for the studying on plant cell development.LIM domain proteins, characterized by one or several double zinc finger motifs (LIM domains), are important developmental regulators in eukaryote. They participate in a variety of basic cellular processes including gene transcription, cytoskeletal organization and signaling by mediating protein-protein interactions.The plant LIM domain proteins are structurally related to the CRP (cystine-rich protein) class of LIM domain proteins, which are considered to be associated with cytoskeleton organization in animals. This structural similarity means that the plant LIM domain proteins may be associated with cytoskeleton organization. LIM domains are widely spreaded in the plant kingdom, which means that the LIM domains may be involved in a variety of important cellular processes in plants. As an interface of protein-interacting, plant LIM domain proteins are involved in gene transcription, lignin synthesis, cytokinesis and so on.Up to now, only few functions of plant LIM domain proteins have been understood. To study the function of GhLIMl in cotton, it was inserted in the sense orientation under the CaMV 35S promoter, and the construct was introduced into cotton plants by Agrobacterium-mediated transformation. We have got the transgenic plants, which have been assayed in order to learn functions of GhLIMl in cotton. The results are shown as follows:We got 18 transgenic cotton plants, which have been defined by Southern Blotting. Northern Blotting show that GhLIMl gene was overexpressed in transgenic plant.