Cotton is the world's most important crop yielding natural fiber and seed oil. There are approximately 45 diploid (2n = 2x = 26) and five tetraploid (2n = 4x = 52) Gossypium species. Out of 50, only four i.e. G. hirsutum, G. barbadense, G. arboreum and G. herbaceum are commercially cultivated. G. hirsutum (AADD) alone contributes more than 95% of the world's total fiber production.

Although recent advances in the sequencing technologies have reduced the cost and time required for deciphering the whole set of genome, there are limited genomic resources available for the cotton researchers and breeders. NBRI has taken significant steps for the genomic resource development in cotton, which will ultimately expand the opportunity of crop improvement through different strategies. A large set of genomic and transcriptome sequencing data has been generated along with expression profiling by microarray. NBRI has discovered significant number of molecular markers (SNPs and SSRs) through various sequencing projects, which are available for the utilization by cotton community.