Tooba Farooq1, Zain-ul-Hudda1, Fariha Qadir1, Rida Fatima1, Rimsha Muneer1, Akhtar Ali1, Sadia Shehzad1, Annas Imran1, Samir Sohail1, Amna Iftikhar1, Muhammad Mazhar1, Anam Ghaffor1, Ali, Alam Zaib1, Zunaira Anwar2, Aqsa Ijaz2, Fatima Misbah1, Ghulam Rasool1, Hina Firdous4* and Abdul Razzaq1*
1Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, The University of Lahore, Pakistan 2Nuclear Institute for Agriculture and Biology College (NIAB-C), Pakistan Institute of Engineering and Applied Sciences (PIEAS), Nilore, Islamabad, 45650 Pakistan 3FB Genetics Four Brothers Group Lahore, Pakistan 4State Key Laboratory of Crop Stress Biology for Arid Areas, College of Plant Protection, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi 712100, China
*Corresponding author:hinafirdous72@yahoo.com (HF); biolformanite@gmail.com (AR)
Cotton is an important textile fiber and a significant oil seed crop. Molecular interventions helped explore the genes involved in fiber strength and length. RNA-seq data on the differential expression of the Gh_A07G1537 gene reveals its role in enhancing fiber quality parameters. Fiber length is an important characteristic of cotton that affects its quality and suitability for different textile products. Fiber quality plays a significant role in determining the value and marketability of cotton as a textile raw material. In this study, the gene construct was prepared in Agrobacterium for transformation. The pollen tube method was employed for the transformation of a gene. A total of 2,250 samples of buds were injected with gene construct with varied concentrations (1-10µL) at different intervals (7:00AM–11:00AM). Leaf samples were taken for transgene integration and validated through PCR. The differential expression of (Gh_A07G1537) gene was evaluated through real-time qPCR. It was found that the gene construct injected into cotton variety Eagle-2 at a concentration of 5µL at 9:00AM showed higher expression of -5.9folds followed by 7µL concentration -5.7folds as compared to the non-transgenics. The transformation efficiency was 1.3% at 5µL followed by 1.25% at 7µL concentration of the construct.