SINGLE FLOWER TRUSS and SELF-PRUNING differentially regulate developmental and metabolic genetic networks to guide cotton (Gossypium hirsutum) architectures [meristems]

Each plant's architecture, composed of patterns of indeterminate and determinate growth, is defined through the activities of meristems. Understanding the regulation of meristem identity can benefit plant architecture and crop yield. To understand how meristem activities contribute to different architectures in cotton (Gossypium hirsutum), we used RNA-Seq to determine the transcriptomes from meristems isolated from different developmental stages of wild photoperiodic and domesticated day-neutral cotton grown under different photoperiods. Overall design: Meristems were isolated from wild photoperiodic Texs 701 (TX701) and domesticated day-neutral Delta Pine 61 (DP61) cotton grown at different stages of development and from different growth regimes. Each developmental stage was comprised of 3 biological replicates, and each replicate consisted of 4 isolated meristems. RNA was extracted, mRNA amplified with TargetAmp Amplification kit (Epicenter, Madison, WI, USA), and 125 ng of amplified mRNA was used to prepare Illumina TruSeq mRNA stranded libraries (Illumina, Inc., San Diego, CA, USA).