Genome-wide analysis of the TAF gene family reveals a role for GhTAF8 in cottonseed oil accumulation.

GhTAF8 (Ghir_D11G035840) is linked to cottonseed oil accumulation, with overexpression in Arabidopsis thaliana increasing seed oil content and silencing in cotton reducing it.

• Why it matters: TAFs help regulate plant development, but cotton-specific genome-wide identification and expression patterns were missing, limiting targets for improving seed oil traits.
• What they did: The study identified 124 TAF genes across four Gossypium species, grouped them into six phylogenetic subgroups, and analyzed collinearity and selection pressure; expression and weighted co-expression network analysis prioritized GhTAF8 from the blue module tied to 20 days post anthesis.
• The result: GhTAF8 showed the highest module membership among nine GhTAFs in that module, and functional tests—overexpression in Arabidopsis thaliana and virus-induced gene silencing in cotton—altered seed oil content, while co-expression networks implicated seed development and lipid metabolism.

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