Release of Genetic Info Will Aid Cotton Breeding Research
April 03 2009 - 1:31PM
Dow Jones News
The release of 4,000 markers from the cotton plant's genetic
structure will nearly double the current knowledge base and help
improve breeding efficiency, Texas AgriLife Research said Friday in
a press release.
Monsanto (MON) is donating 4,000 molecular markers of the cotton
genome, or the combination chromosomes that form the cotton seed.
The donation will bring the total to 9,000-10,000 globally
accessible molecular markers to the cotton database, centered in
College Station, Texas in association with the Texas A&M
University AgriLife Extension Service.
"It allows us to make selections in the laboratory of traits
that lead to better yielding varieties," said John Purcell, global
cotton technology lead for Monsanto.
Cotton genome mapping projects have been ongoing for eight to 10
years, said Richard Percy, research leader of the U.S. Department
of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service crop germplasm
research unit in College Station, which houses the cotton database.
Scattered genome sequencing projects to understand the full
structure the cotton genome began three years ago and were united
under the ongoing International Cotton Genome Initiative, Percy
said.
Despite year-on-year losses in U.S. cotton planted acres
attributed to comparatively weaker market prices than alternative
crops, the research will aid the efficiency through disease
resistance and increased fiber quality, Percy said.
The USDA pegged 2009 cotton acreage at 8.812 million, a 7%
reduction from last year and the smallest crop since 1983.
"If we can increase the fiber quality of the U.S. product, [that
will give the crop a] competitive advantage," he said.
Monsanto aims to double cotton yields from the 2000 average of
632 pounds per acre. U.S. cotton yield was 810 pounds per acre in
2008, according to the USDA.
The mapping technology is being used to develop cotton breeds
that protect against root-knot and nematodes. Monsanto has projects
in the pipeline to integrate that knowledge into traits that
protect against the pests which destroy the roots of plant and
limit their production capacity, said Purcell.
Cotton traits developed through genome mapping aren't required
to pass through regulatory processes, as is necessary for
genetically modified varieties such as Bt cotton, because they are
traits that already exist in the plant, Purcell added.
-By Holly Henschen, Dow Jones Newswires; 201-938-2338;
holly.henschen@dowjones.com