The Spatiotemporal Genetic Architecture of Seed Vigor in Upland Cotton
Seed vigor underpins uniform crop establishment, but its dynamic genetics are understudied. Combining high-resolution temporal phenotyping and genomics in upland cotton, we used the SeedRanger platform to record 17 image-based traits every 30 min over 120 h, revealing stage-specific heritability and identifying 541 seed-vigor loci. These loci show extensive pleiotropy and temporal coordination, forming a genetic network that preserves developmental continuity; 8.9% overlap regions under domestication selection, indicating concurrent optimization with fiber yield. Functional validation of FLA2, a candidate gene underlying a dynamic QTL, implicates auxin-mediated control of radicle elongation and cotyledon development. This temporal framework exposes dynamic genetic architecture and breeding targets for high-vigor crops.
Authors
- Jiaying Pan
- Junbin Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9728-780X)
- Jie Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9958-2850)
- M Zhang
- T Zhang
- Zhanfeng Si
- Xueying Guan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6528-2518)
- Yongyan Zhao
- Zegang Han (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2244-5994)
- Yumeng Zhu
- Hongyu Wu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1278-4183)
- Jun Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2845-2351)
- Zhiyuan Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5907-312X)
- Siyuan Wang
- Jin Han (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8715-9310)
- Li Yu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8176-1220)
- Shengjun Zhao
- Jin Zhou (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1534-2279)
- Xu Zhao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8282-5158)
- Yuehua Chen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0006-1343-7449)
- Ting Zhao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5102-0157)
- Yaping Jiang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6614-0079)
- Yupeng Hao
- Ke Nie
- Yayuan Deng
- Wanghong Shi
- Jie Dai (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7154-0421)
- Xuan Long
- Yiling Pan
- Lei Ju (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0048-7440)
- Yilai Lin
- Luyao Wang
- Kai Huang
Institutions
- National Institute of Agricultural Botany (GB)
- Xinjiang Agricultural University (CN)
- Tropical Crops Genetic Resources Institute (CN)
- ZheJiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CN)
- Center for Excellence in Molecular Plant Sciences (CN)
- Sanya University (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Advanced Science
- Published
- 2026-06-12
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1002/advs.76067
- Primary Topic
- Research in Cotton Cultivation
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- National Key Research and Development Program of China
- Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities