Genomes Assembled from Five Cotton Species Could Lead to Better Varieties

AUSTIN, Texas, April 20, 2020 – 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. Read full stories from NSF, UT Austin, and Texas AgriLife.