Development and characterization of the asiatic desi cotton (gossypium arboreum l.) leaf epicuticular wax mutants

Epicuticular wax covers plant aerial organs to protect them from various biotic and abiotic stresses. Wax mutants have fundamental role in understanding the mechanism of production and deposition of these waxes. In the present study three epicuticular wax mutant plants were developed through chemical mutagens; diethyl sulfate (DES) and ethyl methane sulphonate (EMS) in diploid Asiatic desi cotton (Gossypium arboreum) which is known for its tolerance against various biotic and abiotic stresses. The epicuticular wax appears as smooth stripy layers in wild type G. arboreum plant leaf under scanning electron microscopy. The GaWM1 (Gossypium arboreum Wax Mutant1), GaWM2 and GaWM3 showed altered wax morphology from smooth strips to embedded tubules/fibers, irregular patches and non-stripy smooth layers, respectively. The wild type G. arboreum plant has 183.7 +- 8.72 micro gcm/sup -2/ total wax loads that reduced to 66.79% on GaWM1, 59.50% on GaWM2 and 49.29% on GaWM3. These mutants will be help full to understand the mechanism of epicuticular wax deposition and production at molecular level. (author)