Advances in Understanding of Cotton Fiber Cell Differentiation and Elongation

Abstract

Cotton is the major renewable source of fibers used worldwide in the textile industry. The basic understanding of cotton fiber development is still in its infancy; however, in recent years new information about genes controlling cotton fiber development have become available. This chapter provides an update on the current understanding of cotton fiber differentiation and elongation. Earlier genetic studies of fiber mutants are described here that identified genetic loci involved in the fuzz fiber development and suggested that fuzz and lint fiber share common regulators since interactions of fuzzless loci produce a fibreless seed phenotype. Recent discoveries of the causative mutations for N1 and Xu142fl mutant lines established a central role of MIXTA MYB transcription factors in fuzz and lint fiber development. A preliminary model of early cotton fiber development has been proposed, and a network of interactions between transcription factors are discussed in this chapter.