Length Matters: How Might We Narrow the Quality Gap between Cotton and Synthetic Fibers?.

Four members of the Gossypium (cotton) genus are cultivated for the production of seedborne epidermal fibers that make possible world cotton commerce, in the USA alone employing 127,000 people with output valued at more than $75 billion annually to the nation’s economy — more than any other agricultural crop. US cotton production has long been pressured by competition from high quality synthetic fibers, which in the USA alone require more than 200 million barrels of petroleum each year to produce, at a cost exceeding the farm-gate value of the annual cotton crop. Cotton genotypes are known that produce natural fibers rivaling the length, fineness, and strength of synthetic fibers – indicating the genetic potential for dramatic improvement. However, such genotypes are low yielding and suffer other defects that preclude their commercialization. Here, we consider genetic approaches by which cotton might be taken to a new ‘adaptive peak’ of fiber quality, utilizing new genome-based approaches in prudent combination with both naturally occurring and human-induced variations. Insights from cotton’s evolutionary history also shed new light on genetic mechanisms by which cotton may have arrived at its present state of improvement.