Genome-Wide Analysis of Genes in and Functional Characterization of Controlling Seed Size.

Cotton ( spp.) is an economically important crop grown for natural fiber and seed oil production. is a ubiquitin receptor that determines final seed and organ size by restricting the period of cell proliferation. In the present study, we identified 7 genes each in cultivated tetraploid (AADD) and , and 4 and 3 genes in their ancestral diploid (A2A2) and (D5D5), respectively. The 7 genes were confirmed to be distributed on four At and three Dt subgenome chromosomes in . showed a high sequence similarity to in , and they possessed the same functional domains, suggesting conserved functions. The overexpression of in significantly increased seed size and seed weight, indicating that is a promising target for cotton improvement. This study provides information on the molecular evolutionary properties of genes in cotton, which will be useful for the genetic improvement of cotton.