Breeding of naturally colored cotton fiber has been hampered by the limited germplasm, an alternative way is to use transgenic approach to create more germplasm for breeding. Here, we report our effort to engineer anthocyanin production in cotton. The maize Lc gene, under the control of the constitutive 35S promoter, was introduced into cotton through genetic transformation. Our data showed that the expression of the Lc gene alone is sufficient to trigger the accumulation of anthocyanin in a variety of cell types including fiber cells in cotton. However, the accumulation of colored anthocyanin in cotton fibers requires the participation of light signaling. These data indicate that it is feasible to engineer colored fibers through transgenic approach in cotton. Furthermore, we showed that the Lc-transgenic cotton plants are resistant to cotton bollworm. These transgenic plants are, therefore, potentially useful for cotton breeding against cotton bollworm.

中文翻译：

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在光照下Lc-转基因棉花中花色素苷的积累增强，对棉铃虫的抗性增强。

天然彩色棉纤维的育种受到种质有限的阻碍，另一种方法是使用转基因方法创造更多的种质进行育种。在这里，我们报告了我们对棉花花色苷生产进行工程改造的努力。在组成型35S启动子的控制下，玉米Lc基因通过遗传转化被引入棉花。我们的数据表明Lc的表达基因本身足以触发花色苷在包括棉花纤维细胞在内的多种细胞类型中的积累。但是，有色花色苷在棉纤维中的积累需要光信号的参与。这些数据表明通过转基因方法在棉花中改造有色纤维是可行的。此外，我们发现，LC -transgenic棉花植物对棉铃虫抗药性。因此，这些转基因植物潜在地可用于抗棉铃虫的棉花育种。