NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – A draft sequence of a diploid A cotton genome was released yesterday by a research collaboration between Texas Tech University, Bayer CropScience, and the National Center for Genome Resources.
The annotated draft genome assembly is from the African and Asian cotton species Gossypium arboretum, a representative species of the A genome that is thought to have hybridized with the D genome to form tetraploid species of widely cultivated cottons. The A genome gave rise to the white fiber that made cotton a cornerstone of the textile industry.
Chinese scientists sequenced the genome of the Gossypium raimondii cotton species representative of the D subgenome in 2012. The diploid A and D genome sequences lay the groundwork for sequencing studies of tetraploid cotton genomes containing both subgenomes, including Gossypium hirsutum, a species which comprises almost 90 percent of the world's cotton crop.
"The genome sequence will eventually lead to improved cotton varieties containing environmentally friendly traits," Mick Galyean, dean of Texas Tech's College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, said in a statement.
The research was completed under a public-private partnership between the State of Texas, Texas Tech University, and Bayer CropScience under the umbrella of the Texas Research Incentive Program. In addition, KeyGene and NCGR contributed sequencing and biocomputing technology to the effort.
The draft sequence is currently deposited in Genbank.