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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.
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