RESEARCH ARTICLE Toward allotetraploid cott s q

The genus Gossypium contains many species of great economic and scientific importance. Cotton produces the world’s most important natural textile fiber and is also a significant oilseed crop. The cotton fiber is an out-standing model in which to study plant cell elongation and cell wall and cellulose biosynthesis [1]. Genetic improvement of fiber production and processing will ensure that this natural renewable product will be com-petitive with petroleum-derived synthetic fibers. More-over, modifying cottonseed for food and feed could profoundly enhance the nutrition and livelihoods of millions of people in food-challenged economies [2]. Although cotton genome sequencing has been under-taken by a scientific consortium, cotton genomics has failed to keep pace with the accomplishments in genome sequencing in other angiosperms such as Arabidopsi