Study Reveals a Desert Moss Gene that Enhances Cotton Resistance to Verticillium Wilt

A research team led by Prof. ZHANG Daoyuan from the Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences (XIEG), has uncovered ScALDH21 from a desert moss Syntrichia caninervis enhances cotton resistance to Verticillium wilt (VW). The findings were published in Plant Biotechnology Journal on 28 April 2026.

The researchers identified ScALDH21, an ancient stress-tolerance gene absent in flowering plants, from Syntrichia caninervis, a desert moss extremophile adapted to harsh arid environments of the Gurbantonggut Desert in Xinjiang, China. This gene was successfully transformed into cotton, generating stably inherited transgenic lines.

The team conducted multi-year and multi-location field trials to test the VW resistance performance of transgenic ScALDH21 cotton. Furthermore, they employed transcriptomics, metabolomics, and CUT&Tag technology to uncover the molecular regulatory mechanisms associated with ScALDH21, aiming to elucidate its role in balancing plant growth and stress resistance.

The study shows that transgenic cotton lines consistently exhibited two major advantages: markedly improved resistance to VW, and significantly reduced yield loss, with an approximate 20% yield increase relative to non-transgenic counterparts under pathogen infection conditions.

The study uncovered the molecular mechanism of ScALDH21. It enhances cotton resistance by activating antioxidant defense to scavenge reactive oxygen species, reinforcing cell walls via lignin and callose deposition, modulating jasmonic acid signaling, and reprogramming defense-related gene expression.

The study not only provides an excellent gene resource for cotton breeding against VW, but also further demonstrates a promising strategy for improving crop biotic resistance by utilizing unique functional genes from distant organisms in extreme environments.

Read the full Article: https://doi.org/10.1111/pbi.70669

The performance of ScALDH21-transgenic cotton in disease nursery by V. dahliae infected in two sites. (Image by XIEG)

Contact:

YANG Honglan

Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography

E-mail: yanghonglan@ms.xjb.ac.cn

Web: http://english.egi.cas.cn