Texas A&M Team Develops Longer, Stronger Cotton Fiber
January 22, 2014| |
An international collaboration of scientists have figured out how to make a longer cotton fiber--a milestone that could have a multi-billion-dollar impact on the global cotton industry. This will also help cotton farmers fend off increasing competition from synthetic fibers.
The scientists used a genetic cross between a long-fiber plant and a short-fiber plant, then zeroed in on a region of the genome that sat directly on top of one of the phytochrome genes. Phytochrome is a type of photoreceptor which is mainly responsive to different wavelengths of red light. The phytochromes regulate many plant traits, including the length of leaves and stems and flowering time.The scientists then used a technique called RNA interference to "knock down" or interfere with expression of that gene.
See Texas A&M University's news release at http://www.science.tamu.edu/articles/1157.
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