Genes Involved in Osmoregulation during Turgor-Driven Cell Expansion of Developing Cotton Fibers Are Differentially Regulated1

Cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) fibers are single-celled trichomes that synchronously undergo a phase of rapid cell expansion, then a phase including secondary cell wall deposition, and finally maturation. To determine if there is coordinated regulation of gene expression during fiber expansion, we analyzed the expression of components involved in turgor regulation and a cytoskeletal protein by measuring levels of mRNA and protein accumulation and enzyme activity. Fragments of the genes for the plasma membrane proton-translocating ATPase, vacuole-ATPase, proton-translocating pyrophosphatase (PPase), phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase, major intrinsic protein, and α-tubulin were amplified by polymerase chain reaction and used as probes in ribonuclease protection assays of RNA from a fiber developmental series, revealing two discrete patterns of mRNA accumulation. Transcripts of all but the PPase accumulated to highest levels during the period of peak expansion (+12–15 d postanthesis [dpa]), then declined with the onset of secondary cell wall synthesis. The PPase was constitutively expressed through fiber development. Activity of the two proton-translocating-ATPases peaked at +15 dpa, whereas PPase activity peaked at +20 dpa, suggesting that all are involved in the process of cell expansion but with varying roles. Patterns of protein accumulation and enzyme activity for some of the proteins examined suggest posttranslational regulation through fiber development.

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Payment order for Josiah Cotton, 1722 September 10

Handwritten order to Penn Townsend to pay scholarship funds to student Josiah Cotton (Harvard AB 1722), signed by Benjamin Wadsworth, Thomas Foxcroft, Samuel Marshall, and Jonathan Williams.

Payment order for Rowland Cotton, 1726 October 17

Handwritten order to Penn Townsend to pay scholarship funds to Rowland Cotton on behalf of his son Ward Cotton (Harvard AB 1729), signed by Thomas Foxcroft, John Marion, Samuel Marshall, and Jonathan Williams.

[Admittatur of Cotton Tufts (Harvard AB 1749)], 1745

Notebook with a handwritten copy of the 1734 College laws in English prepared by Harvard undergraduate Cotton Tufts and signed by President Edward Holyoke, Tutor Belcher Hancock, Fellow Joseph Mayhew, and Tutor Thomas Marsh on November 8, 1745.

Letter from John Avery to Cotton Tufts, 1790 April 9

A handwritten invitation from John Avery to Cotton Tufts for a meeting of the Harvard Board of Overseers' "Committee to enquire into the state of the College" on April 13, 1790.

History of the Cotton family : manuscript, [ca. 1728]-1755

History of the Cotton family with biographical information on Cotton, his mother, father, siblings, and some distant relations, including information on the Rosseter family, his mother's family line; often with transcripts of family letters. Also contains further genealogical information added by a later hand.