Characterization of Cotton ARF Factors and the Role of GhARF2b in Fiber Development

BackgroundCotton fiber is a model system for studying plant cell development. At present, the functions of many transcription factors in cotton fiber development have been elucidated, however, the roles of auxin response factor (ARF) genes in cotton fiber development need be further explored.ResultsHere, we identify auxin response factor (ARF) genes in three cotton species: the tetraploid upland cottonG. hirsutum, which has 73 ARF genes, and its putative extent parental diploidsG. arboreumandG. raimondii, which have 36 and 35 ARFs, respectively. Ka and Ks analyses revealed that inG. hirsutum ARFgenes have undergone asymmetric evolution in the two subgenomes. The cotton ARFs can be classified into four phylogenetic clades and are actively expressed in young tissues. We demonstrate thatGhARF2b, a homolog of the ArabidopsisAtARF2, was preferentially expressed in developing ovules and fibers. Overexpression ofGhARF2bby a fiber specific promoter inhibited fiber cell elongation but promoted initiation and, conversely, its downregulation by RNAi resulted in fewer but longer fiber. We show that GhARF2b directly interacts with GhHOX3 and represses the transcriptional activity of GhHOX3 on target genes.ConclusionOur results uncover an important role of the ARF factor in modulating cotton fiber development at the early stage.