Cotton host plant resistance research was initiated with the establishment of Boll Weevil Research Laboratory in 1960. objectives were to conduct and develop technology that ultimately could be used eradicate boll weevil. Early concentrated on developing techniques screening germplasm for resistance. A full-scale weevil eradication trial began southern Virginia eastern North Carolina 1978 after...

The CRISPR (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats)/Cas9 system has been widely used for genome editing in various plants because of its simplicity, high efficiency and design flexibility. However, to our knowledge, there is no report on the application of CRISPR/Cas9-mediated targeted mutagenesis in cotton. Here, we report the genome editing and targeted mutagenesis in uplan...

Bt-transgenic cotton has proven to be highly efficient in controlling key lepidopteran pests. One concern with the deployment of Bt cotton varieties is the potential proliferation of non-target pests. We previously showed that Bt cotton contained lower concentrations of insecticidal terpenoids as a result of reduced caterpillar damage, which benefited the aphid Aphis gossypii. It is thus import...

In crop research programs that implement transgene-based strategies for trait improvement it is necessary to distinguish between transgene homozygous and hemizygous individuals in segregating populations. Direct methods for determining transgene zygosity are technically challenging, expensive, and require specialized equipment. In this report, we describe a standard PCR-based protocol coupled w...

The growth and yield of many crops, including cotton, are affected by water deficit. Cotton has evolved drought specific as well as general morpho-physiological, biochemical and molecular responses to drought stress, which are discussed in this review. The key physiological responses against drought stress in cotton, including stomata closing, root development, cellular adaptations, photosynthe...

The efficacy of transgenic cotton genotypes containing Cry1Ac, Cry1F, and Cry1Ac stacked with Cry1F (WideStrike®, Dow Agrosciences, Indianapolis, IN) were investigated during 2001-2003 against the beet armyworm, Spodoptera exigua (Hübner) (=BAW), and the fall armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda (J. E. Smith) (=FAW), in laboratory bioassays and small experimental field plots. In all experiments, cot...

Long-term ecological effects of transgenic Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) crops on nontarget pests have received limited attention, more so in diverse small holder-based cropping systems of the developing world. Field trials conducted over 10 years in northern China show that mirid bugs (Heteroptera: Miridae) have progressively increased population sizes and acquired pest status in cotton and mult...

Cotton fibres, the single-celled trichomes derived from the ovule epidermis, provide the most important natural material for the global textile industry. A number of studies have demonstrated that regulating endogenous hormone levels through transgenic approaches can improve cotton fibre qualities. Phytosulfokine-α (PSK-α) is a novel peptide hormone in plants that is involved in regulating cell...

optimization of regeneration methods in cotton is necessary to improve and successful production of transgenic cotton cultivars by tissue culture technique. this study was conducted to determine the genotypic effect on callus induction in cotton using 3 genotypes (coker349, 4-s-4 and c1211) and coker 312 selected and a study was carried out in cotton research institute of gorgan using a factori...