''Gossypium'' () is a

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (). The term angiosperm is derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek words (; 'container, vessel') and (; 'seed'), meaning that the seeds are enclosed with ...

s in the tribe Gossypieae of the mallow family,

Malvaceae Malvaceae (), or the mallows, is a family of flowering plants estimated to contain 244 genera with 4225 known species. Well-known members of economic importance include Theobroma cacao, cacao, Cola (plant), cola, cotton, okra, Hibiscus sabdariffa, ...

, from which

cotton Cotton (), first recorded in ancient India, is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus '' Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure ...

is harvested. It is native to tropical and subtropical regions of the Old and

New World The term "New World" is used to describe the majority of lands of Earth's Western Hemisphere, particularly the Americas, and sometimes Oceania."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: ...

s. There are about 50 ''Gossypium'' species, making it the largest genus in the tribe Gossypieae, and new species continue to be discovered. The name of the genus is derived from the Arabic word ''goz'', which refers to a soft substance. Cotton is the primary natural fibre used by humans today, amounting to about 80% of world natural fibre production. Where cotton is cultivated, it is a major oilseed crop and a main protein source for animal feed. Cotton is thus of great importance for agriculture, industry and trade, especially for

tropical The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the equator, where the sun may shine directly overhead. This contrasts with the temperate or polar regions of Earth, where the Sun can never be directly overhead. This is because of Earth's ax ...

and

subtropical The subtropical zones or subtropics are geographical zone, geographical and Köppen climate classification, climate zones immediately to the Northern Hemisphere, north and Southern Hemisphere, south of the tropics. Geographically part of the Ge ...

countries in Africa, South America and Asia. Consequently, the genus ''Gossypium'' has long attracted the attention of scientists. The origin of the genus ''Gossypium'' is dated to around 5–10 million years ago. ''Gossypium'' species are distributed in

arid Aridity is the condition of geographical regions which make up approximately 43% of total global available land area, characterized by low annual precipitation, increased temperatures, and limited water availability.Perez-Aguilar, L. Y., Plata ...

to semiarid regions of the tropics and subtropics. Generally

shrubs A shrub or bush is a small to medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees by their multiple ...

or shrub-like plants, the species of this genus are extraordinarily diverse in morphology and

adaptation In biology, adaptation has three related meanings. Firstly, it is the dynamic evolutionary process of natural selection that fits organisms to their environment, enhancing their evolutionary fitness. Secondly, it is a state reached by the p ...

, ranging from fire-adapted,

herbaceous Herbaceous plants are vascular plants that have no persistent woody stems above ground. This broad category of plants includes many perennials, and nearly all annuals and biennials. Definitions of "herb" and "herbaceous" The fourth edition of ...

perennials in Australia to trees in Mexico. Most wild cottons are

diploid Ploidy () is the number of complete sets of chromosomes in a cell, and hence the number of possible alleles for autosomal and pseudoautosomal genes. Here ''sets of chromosomes'' refers to the number of maternal and paternal chromosome copies, ...

, but a group of five species from America and Pacific islands are tetraploid, apparently due to a single hybridization event around 1.5 to 2 million years ago. The tetraploid species are '' G. hirsutum'', '' G. tomentosum'', '' G. mustelinum'', '' G. barbadense'', and '' G. darwinii''. Cultivated cottons are perennial shrubs, most often grown as annuals. Plants are 1–2 m high in modern cropping systems, sometimes higher in traditional, multiannual cropping systems, now largely disappearing. The leaves are broad and lobed, with three to five (or rarely seven) lobes. The seeds are contained in a capsule called a "boll", each seed surrounded by fibres of two types. These fibres are the more commercially interesting part of the plant and they are separated from the seed by a process called ginning. At the first ginning, the longer fibres, called staples, are removed and these are twisted together to form yarn for making thread and weaving into high quality textiles. At the second ginning, the shorter fibres, called "linters", are removed, and these are woven into lower quality textiles (which include the eponymous lint). Commercial species of cotton plant are '' G. hirsutum'' (97% of world production), '' G. barbadense'' (1–2%), '' G. arboreum'' and '' G. herbaceum'' (together, ~1%). Many varieties of cotton have been developed by selective breeding and hybridization of these species. Experiments are ongoing to cross-breed various desirable traits of wild cotton species into the principal commercial species, such as resistance to insects and diseases, and drought tolerance. Cotton fibres occur naturally in colours of white, brown, green, and some mixing of these.

Selected species

Subgenus ''Gossypium''

*'' Gossypium anomalum'' Wawra & Peyr. *''

Gossypium arboreum ''Gossypium arboreum'', commonly called tree cotton, is a species of cotton native to Indian subcontinent and other tropical and subtropical regions of the Old World. There is evidence of its cultivation as long ago as the Indus Valley Civilisa ...

'' L. – tree cotton (India and

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

) *''

Gossypium herbaceum ''Gossypium herbaceum'', commonly known as Levant cotton, is a species of cotton native to the semi-arid regions of sub-Saharan Africa and Arabia, where it still grows perennially in the wild as a shrub. Description ''G. herbaceum'' has high s ...

'' L. – Levant cotton (southern Africa and the

Arabian Peninsula The Arabian Peninsula (, , or , , ) or Arabia, is a peninsula in West Asia, situated north-east of Africa on the Arabian plate. At , comparable in size to India, the Arabian Peninsula is the largest peninsula in the world. Geographically, the ...

)

Subgenus ''Houzingenia''

*'' Gossypium raimondii'' Ulbr. – one of the putative progenitor species of tetraploid cotton, alongside ''G. arboreum'' *'' Gossypium thurberi'' Tod. – Arizona wild cotton (

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

and northern Mexico)

Subgenus ''Karpas''

*''

Gossypium barbadense ''Gossypium barbadense'' is one of several species of cotton. It is in the Malvaceae, mallow family. It has been cultivated since antiquity, but has been especially prized since a form with particularly long fibers was developed in the 19th cent ...

'' L. – Creole cotton/Sea Island Cotton (tropical South America) *'' Gossypium darwinii'' G.Watt – Darwin's cotton (

Galápagos Islands The Galápagos Islands () are an archipelago of volcanic islands in the Eastern Pacific, located around the equator, west of the mainland of South America. They form the Galápagos Province of the Republic of Ecuador, with a population of sli ...

) *''

Gossypium hirsutum ''Gossypium hirsutum'', also known as upland cotton or Mexican cotton, is the most widely planted species of cotton in the world. Globally, about 90% of all cotton production is of cultivars derived from this species. In the United States, the wo ...

'' L. – upland cotton (Central America, Mexico, the

Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...

and southern Florida) *'' Gossypium mustelinum'' Miers ex G.Watt *'' Gossypium tomentosum'' Nutt. ex Seem – ''Maʻo'' or Hawaiian cotton (Hawaii)

Subgenus ''Sturtia''

*'' Gossypium australe'' F.Muell (northwestern Australia) *'' Gossypium sturtianum'' J.H. Willis – Sturt's desert rose (Australia)

Formerly placed in genus ''Gossypium''

*'' Gossypioides brevilanatum'' (Hochr.) J.B.Hutch. (as ''G. brevilanatum'' Hochr.) *'' Gossypioides kirkii'' (Mast.) J.B.Hutch. (as ''Gossypium kirkii'' Mast.) *'' Kokia drynarioides'' (Seem.) Lewton (as ''G. drynarioides'' Seem.)

''Gossypium'' genome

A public genome sequencing effort of cotton was initiated in 2007 by a consortium of public researchers. They agreed on a strategy to sequence the genome of cultivated, allotetraploid cotton. "Allotetraploid" means that the genomes of these cotton species comprise two distinct subgenomes, referred to as the At and Dt (the 't' for tetraploid, to distinguish them from the A and D genomes of the related diploid species). The strategy is to sequence first the D-genome relative of allotetraploid cottons, ''G. raimondii'', a wild South American (

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...

) cotton species, because of its smaller size due essentially to less repetitive DNA (retrotransposons mainly). It has nearly one-third the number of bases of tetraploid cotton (AD), and each chromosome is only present once. The A genome of ''G. arboreum'', the 'Old-World' cotton species (grown in India in particular), would be sequenced next. Its genome is roughly twice the size of ''G. raimondiis. Once both A and D genome sequences are assembled, then research could begin to sequence the actual genomes of tetraploid cultivated cotton varieties. This strategy is out of necessity; if one were to sequence the tetraploid genome without model diploid genomes, the euchromatic DNA sequences of the AD genomes would co-assemble and the repetitive elements of AD genomes would assemble independently into A and D sequences, respectively. Then there would be no way to untangle the mess of AD sequences without comparing them to their diploid counterparts. The public sector effort continues with the goal to create a high-quality, draft genome sequence from reads generated by all sources. The public-sector effort has generated Sanger reads of BACs, fosmids, and plasmids, as well as 454 reads. These later types of reads will be instrumental in assembling an initial draft of the D genome. In 2010, two companies ( Monsanto and Illumina), completed enough Illumina sequencing to cover the D genome of ''G. raimondii'' about 50x. They announced they would donate their raw reads to the public. This public relations effort gave them some recognition for sequencing the cotton genome. Once the D genome is assembled from all of this raw material, it will undoubtedly assist in the assembly of the AD genomes of cultivated varieties of cotton, but a lot of hard work remains.

Cotton pests and diseases

Pests

* Boll weevil, ''Anthonomus grandis'' * Cotton aphid, ''Aphis gossypii'' * Cotton stainer, ''Dysdercus koenigii'' * Cotton bollworm, ''Helicoverpa zea'', and native budworm, ''Helicoverpa punctigera'', are caterpillars that damage cotton crops. *: Some other

Lepidoptera Lepidoptera ( ) or lepidopterans is an order (biology), order of winged insects which includes butterflies and moths. About 180,000 species of the Lepidoptera have been described, representing 10% of the total described species of living organ ...

(

butterfly Butterflies are winged insects from the lepidopteran superfamily Papilionoidea, characterized by large, often brightly coloured wings that often fold together when at rest, and a conspicuous, fluttering flight. The oldest butterfly fossi ...

and

moth Moths are a group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not Butterfly, butterflies. They were previously classified as suborder Heterocera, but the group is Paraphyly, paraphyletic with respect to butterflies (s ...

)

larva A larva (; : larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into their next life stage. Animals with indirect development such as insects, some arachnids, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase ...

e also feed on cotton – see list of Lepidoptera that feed on cotton plants. * Green mirid (''Creontiades dilutus''), a sucking insect * Spider mites, ''Tetranychus urticae'', ''T. ludeni'' and ''T. lambi'' *

Thrips Thrips (Order (biology) , order Thysanoptera) are minute (mostly long or less), slender insects with fringed wings and unique asymmetrical mouthparts. Entomologists have species description , described approximately 7,700 species. They fly on ...

, ''Thrips tabaci'' and ''Frankliniella schultzei''

Diseases

Alternaria ''Alternaria'' is a genus of Deuteromycetes fungi. All species are known as major Phytopathology, plant pathogens. They are also common allergens in humans, growing indoors and causing hay fever or hypersensitivity reactions that sometimes lead t ...

leaf spot, caused by '' Alternaria macrospora'' and ''

Alternaria alternata ''Alternaria alternata'' is a fungus causing leaf spots, rots, and blights on many plant parts, and other diseases. It is an opportunistic pathogen on over 380 host species of plant. It can also cause upper respiratory tract infections and a ...

'' * Anthracnose boll rot, caused by '' Colletotrichum gossypii'' * Black root rot, caused by the fungus '' Thielaviopsis basicola'' *Blight caused by ''Xanthomonas campestris'' pv. ''malvacearum'' * Fusarium boll rot caused by ''Fusarium'' spp. * Phytophthora boll rot, caused by '' ''Phytophthora nicotianae'' var. ''parasitica'' * Sclerotinia boll rot, caused by the fungus '' Sclerotinia sclerotiorum'' * Stigmatomycosis, caused by the fungi '' Ashbya gossypii'', '' Eremothecium coryli'', ''(Nematospora coryli)'' and '' Aureobasidium pullulans''

Gallery

Cotton plant flower G. hirsutum.JPG, A ''Gossypium hirsutum'' flower, lateral view, growing in

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

Càpsula obrint-se.JPG, The same ''G. hirsutum'' plant with the opening capsule Cotton pollination 5892.JPG, ''G. hirsutum'' flower with

bumblebee A bumblebee (or bumble bee, bumble-bee, or humble-bee) is any of over 250 species in the genus ''Bombus'', part of Apidae, one of the bee families. This genus is the only Extant taxon, extant group in the tribe Bombini, though a few extinct r ...

pollinator, Hemingway, South Carolina Hawn Cotton.jpg, ''G. tomentosum'' boll IPMtrap4854.JPG, Integrated pest management bollworm trap at a cotton field in Manning, South Carolina Organic-agriculture biocontrol-cotton polistes-wasp.JPG, Natural biocontrol: predatory '' Polistes'' wasp looking for bollworms or other caterpillars on cotton plant in Hemingway, South Carolina Cotton boll nearly ready for harvest.jpg, Cotton boll ready for harvest,

South Carolina South Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders North Carolina to the north and northeast, the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, and Georgia (U.S. state), Georg ...

Gossypium Sp. Brun MHNT.BOT.2018.28.8.jpg, ''Gossypium'' Sp. Brun - MHNT

References

External links

Central Institute for Cotton Research
– ''located in India''. {{Taxonbar, from=Q719312 Fiber plants Energy crops Biofuels Fodder Non-food crops Malvaceae genera Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus