Genomes Assembled from Five Cotton Species Could Lead to Better Varieties
Cotton producers in Texas, elsewhere in the US and around the world are looking for new varieties that can better withstand droughts, pests and pathogens, yet yield higher-quality fibers for the textile industry. To help accelerate the breeding and improvement of cotton varieties, researchers from The University of Texas at Austin and elsewhere teamed up to produce the reference-grade genomes of all five species, including two cultivated cottons. Their results were published in the journal Nature Genetics
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First Step Taken Toward Epigenetically Modified Cotton
AUSTIN, Texas, May 31, 2017 — With prices down and weather patterns unpredictable, these are tough times for America’s cotton farmers, but new research led by Z. Jeffrey Chen at The University of Texas at Austin might offer a break for the industry. He and a team have taken the first step toward a new way of breeding heartier, more productive cotton through a process called epigenetic modification.
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Upland cotton: an improved sequence will advance fiber, fuel and food applications
April 11, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire: A consortium led by Z. Jeffrey Chen of The University of Texas at Austin and Jane Grimwood and Jeremy Schmutz of the HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology has made publicly available a significantly improved high-quality genome sequence of Upland cotton (Gossypium hirsutum). This sequence of the species making up greater than 90% of the world’s spinnable cotton fiber builds upon previous genome sequences published in the past five years. The data is downloadable at DOE JGI Phytozome
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October 24, 2011
The project meeting was held at Cotton Inc. in Cary, North Carolina. The project participants discussed and planned cotton (TM-1) physical mapping, BAC end sequencing, RNA-seq, and other sequencing activities, as well as coordination of outreach activities.
Attendees:
PI: Jeff Chen (Yuki Guan, Gyoungju Nah, UT-Austin)
Co-PI: Candace Haigler (Rich Tuttle, Mike Stiff, Sovika Thapas, NC State)
Co-PI: Brian Scheffler (USDA ARS MSA Genomics Laboratory, Alcorn State University)
Co-PI: David Stelly (Amanda Hulse, Texas
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October 11, 2010
The annual Cotton Fiber Genomics project meeting was held in Austin. The project was funded by the National Science Foundation and focused on “Functional and Sequence Analysis of Fiber development on Tetraploid Cotton”. The attendees of the meeting include:
PI: Chen Lab (David Pang, Yuki Guan, Xiaoli Shi, UT-Austin)
Co-PI: David Stelly (Shivapriya Manchali, Texas A&M)
Co-PI: Candace Haigler (North Carolina State University).
Co-PI : Brian Scheffler (USDA ARS MSA Genomics Laboratory, Stoneville, MS).
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September 15, 2010
Cotton Fiber Genomics – Dr. Z. Jeffrey Chen and his colleagues will use next-generation DNA sequencing technologies to study the genomics of fiber production in cotton, the largest source of natural and renewable fiber in the world, with a $3.8 million grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF).
May 2009
The cotton fiber genomics project funded by NSF is approved for no-cost extension until August 31, 2010. The research team plans to complete a few more large experiments and publish several papers and will submit a competitive renewal proposal in January 2010.
November 21th, 2008
The annual Cotton Fiber Genomics project meeting was held in Austin. The project was funded by the National Science Foundation and focused on “Genetic and Functional Genomic Analysis of Early Events in Cotton Fiber Development”. The attendees of the meeting include:
PI: Chen Lab (David Pang, Yuki Guan, Misook Ha, Vikram Agarwal, UT-Austin.
Co-PI: Triplett Lab (He Jim Kim, Doug Hinchliffe, USDA-ARS/UNO).
Co-PI: David Stelly (Shivapriya Manchali, Texas A&M).
Co-PI: Peggy Thaxton (Mississippi State University).
Co-PI: Sing-
February 7th, 2006
The project meeting of NSF cotton fiber genomics was held in Austin, Texas. The Chen lab hosted the meeting. Graduate students and postdocs from each lab gave short presentations about the progress made and discussed about their future research plans. Two close collaborators, Chris Town at TIGR and Roy Cantrell at Cotton Inc., were present at the meeting. We discussed future strategies of cotton genomics research including potential approaches to cotton genome sequencing.
January 4th-6th, 2006
PI, Co-PIs, and project members including postdoc and graduate students attended the Betwide Cotton Conference held in San Antonio, TX.
January 5th 2005
NSF cotton fiber genomics project meeting was held in USDA-ARS, Southern Regional Research Center, New Orleans, LA. Members from each lab gave short presentations about the progress made and discussed about the future plans as well. This meeting was held in conjunction with the Beltwide Cotton Conference (Jan. 4th-7th) in New Orleans, LA.
December 2004
TM-1 ovule (-3 ~ +3 DPA) full-length cDNA library construction was completed. 51,072 clones were arrayed in 384-well plates (133 plates). Duplicate sets were made and one set was sent to TIGR for sequencing. 49,920 cDNAs (130 plates) are being sequenced at TIGR and ~40,000 ESTs are expected to be generated soon.
October 2004
Chen and Stelly will participate in the International Cotton Genome Initiative (ICGI) biennial meeting in Hyderabad, India. Stelly is the elected Chair of ICGI and Chen has organized a session that will examine possible elements and approaches to a sequencing effort.
October 15th-16th, 2004
Sreenath Palle, graduate research assistant, will attend Pathways to the Doctorate programmaticconference in southern Texas. The Texas A&M University System developed the program to advance higher education opportunities, and, perhaps even more important, awareness of those opportunities in all regions of the state. The conferences rotate among System institutions, and the Pathways
October 8th, 2004
Deadline for submitting FY2005 grant proposals to Plant Genome Research Program.
September 23rd-24th, 2004
J. Chen and B. Triplett attend the NSF New Awardee’s Meeting in Washington, D.C.
September 22nd, 2004
Announcement of the new projects funded by the NSF Plant Genome Research Program.
September 13th, 2004
Total RNAs were purified from immature ovules collected at -3, 0, and +3 days post anthesis (DPA). A full-length cDNA library is under construction.
September 1st, 2004
- Sreenath Palle (M.Sc., B.Sc.) joined as a graduate research assistant with Dr. Stelly’s group as part of the Fiber Genomics project team.
- Dr. Suk Hawn Yang joined the project in the Chen lab as a Postdoctoral Researcher and part-time Manager for the project. Ning (Edward) Wei, a Ph. D. student in Computer Science, is working in the Chen and Sze labs on computational analysis of sequence and microarray data being generated. Jenny Lee, a Ph. D. student in Genetics, continues to work on functional analysis of cotton orthologous genes in Arabidopsis.
- Ms. Ra’sheedah
Genetic Road Map May Bring About Better Cotton Crops
A University of Texas at Austin scientist, working with an international research team, has developed the most precise sequence map yet of U.S. cotton and will soon create an even more detailed map for navigating the complex cotton genome. Full Story. The research in the USA team is supported by
April 20, 2015
A University of Texas at Austin scientist, working with an international research team, has developed the most precise sequence map yet of U.S. cotton and will soon create an even more detailed map for navigating the complex cotton genome. Full Story. The research in the USA team is supported by
June 25th, 2004
The first project planning meeting on Cotton Fiber Genomics was held at TAMU.
