Salinity has drastic effects on plant growth and productivity and is one of the major factors responsible for crop yield losses throughout the agricultural soils of the world. The mechanisms of salinity tolerance in plants are regulated by a set of inherent multigenes and prevalent environmental factors, which bring about a myriad of metabolic changes in each plant part. The stress‐induced metabolic changes in the rice plant have been intensively studied, but extensively in plant parts such as stem, leaf, and root. However, little information exists in the literature about such stress‐induced architectural and physiological changes in rice grain, a premier staple food of a large proportion of human population. Thus, the current review comprehensively describes the effects of salinity stress on rice grain composition including changes in carbohydrate, protein, fat, and mineral contents. Elucidation of salinity induced changes in rice grain composition would help to understand whether or not a nutritious and healthy staple food is available to human population from rice grown under saline environments.

Upland Cotton (Gossypium hirsutum) is one of the most important worldwide crops it provides natural high-quality fiber for the industrial production and everyday use. Next-generation sequencing is a powerful method to identify single nucleotide polymorphism markers on a large scale for the construction of a high-density genetic map for quantitative trait loci mapping. In this research, a recombinant inbred lines population developed from two upland cotton cultivars 0–153 and sGK9708 was used to construct a high-density genetic map through the specific locus amplified fragment sequencing method. The high-density genetic map harbored 5521 single nucleotide polymorphism markers which covered a total distance of 3259.37 cM with an average marker interval of 0.78 cM without gaps larger than 10 cM. In total 18 quantitative trait loci of boll weight were identified as stable quantitative trait loci and were detected in at least three out of 11 environments and explained 4.15–16.70 % of the observed phenotypic variation. In total, 344 candidate genes were identified within the confidence intervals of these stable quantitative trait loci based on the cotton genome sequence. These genes were categorized based on their function through gene ontology analysis, Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes analysis and eukaryotic orthologous groups analysis. This research reported the first high-density genetic map for Upland Cotton (Gossypium hirsutum) with a recombinant inbred line population using single nucleotide polymorphism markers developed by specific locus amplified fragment sequencing. We also identified quantitative trait loci of boll weight across 11 environments and identified candidate genes within the quantitative trait loci confidence intervals. The results of this research would provide useful information for the next-step work including fine mapping, gene functional analysis, pyramiding breeding of functional genes as well as marker-assisted selection.

NAC domain proteins are plant‐specific transcription factors known to play diverse roles in various plant developmental processes. In the present study, we performed the first comprehensive study of the NAC gene family in Gossypium raimondii Ulbr., incorporating phylogenetic, chromosomal location, gene structure, conserved motif, and expression profiling analyses. We identified 145 NAC transcription factor (NAC‐TF) genes that were phylogenetically clustered into 18 distinct subfamilies. Of these, 127 NAC‐TF genes were distributed across the 13 chromosomes, 80 (55%) were preferentially retained duplicates located in both duplicated regions and six were located in triplicated chromosomal regions. The majority of NAC‐TF genes showed temporal‐, spatial‐, and tissue‐specific expression patterns based on transcriptomic and qRT‐PCR analyses. However, the expression patterns of several duplicate genes were partially redundant, suggesting the occurrence of sub‐functionalization during their evolution. Based on their genomic organization, we concluded that genomic duplications contributed significantly to the expansion of the NAC‐TF gene family in G. raimondii. Comprehensive analysis of their expression profiles could provide novel insights into the functional divergence among members of the NAC gene family in G. raimondii.

It is of great importance to identify quantitative trait loci (QTL) controlling fiber quality traits and yield components for future marker-assisted selection (MAS) and candidate gene function identifications. In this study, two kinds of traits in 231 F_6:8 recombinant inbred lines (RILs), derived from an intraspecific cross between Xinluzao24, a cultivar with elite fiber quality, and Lumianyan28, a cultivar with wide adaptability and high yield potential, were measured in nine environments. This RIL population was genotyped by 122 SSR and 4729 SNP markers, which were also used to construct the genetic map. The map covered 2477.99 cM of hirsutum genome, with an average marker interval of 0.51 cM between adjacent markers. As a result, a total of 134 QTLs for fiber quality traits and 122 QTLs for yield components were detected, with 2.18–24.45 and 1.68–28.27% proportions of the phenotypic variance explained by each QTL, respectively. Among these QTLs, 57 were detected in at least two environments, named stable QTLs. A total of 209 and 139 quantitative trait nucleotides (QTNs) were associated with fiber quality traits and yield components by four multilocus genome-wide association studies methods, respectively. Among these QTNs, 74 were detected by at least two algorithms or in two environments. The candidate genes harbored by 57 stable QTLs were compared with the ones associated with QTN, and 35 common candidate genes were found. Among these common candidate genes, four were possibly “pleiotropic.” This study provided important information for MAS and candidate gene functional studies.

Background: Cotton Verticillium wilt is a serious soil-borne vascular disease that causes great economic loss each year. However, due to the lack of resistant varieties of upland cotton, the molecular mechanisms of resistance to this disease, especially to the pathogen Verticillium dahliae, remain unclear. Results: We used the RNA-seq method to research the molecular mechanisms of cotton defence responses to different races of Verticillium dahliae by comparing infected sea-island cotton and upland cotton. A total of 77,212 unigenes were obtained, and the unigenes were subjected to BLAST searching and annotated using the GO and KO databases. Six sets of digital gene expression data were mapped to the reference transcriptome. The gene expression profiles of cotton infected with Verticillium dahliae were compared to those of uninfected cotton; 44 differentially expressed genes were identified. Regarding genes involved in the phenylalanine metabolism pathway, the hydroxycinnamoyl transferase gene (HCT) was upregulated in upland cotton whereas PAL, 4CL, CAD, CCoAOMT, and COMT were upregulated in sea-island cotton. Almost no differentially expressed genes in this pathway were identified in sea-island cotton and upland cotton when they were infected with V. dahliae V991 and V. dahliae D07038, respectively. Conclusions: Our comprehensive gene expression data at the transcription level will help elucidate the molecular mechanisms of the cotton defence response to V. dahliae. By identifying the genes involved in the defence response of each type of cotton to V. dahliae, our data not only provide novel molecular information for researchers, but also help accelerate research on genes involved in defences in cotton.