“…SLAF-seq has several distinguishing advantages: (i) deep sequencing to ensure genotyping accuracy; (ii) reduced representation strategy to reduce sequencing costs; and (iii) a double barcode system for large populations ( Sun et al, 2013 ). Many cotton genetic linkage maps have been constructed and quantitative trait loci (QTL) identified using different kinds of populations and DNA markers ( Ulloa et al, 2002 , 2005 ; Rong et al, 2004 ; Chen et al, 2009 ; Sun et al, 2012 ; Zhang et al, 2012 , 2016 ; Zhou et al, 2017 ; Zhang et al, 2020 ; Hulse-Kemp et al, 2015 ; Shi et al, 2015 ; Wang H. et al, 2015 ; Wang Y. et al, 2015 ; Yuan et al, 2015 ; Zhang Z. et al, 2015 ; Li et al, 2016 ; Liu et al, 2017 ; Qi et al, 2017 ; Chandnani et al, 2018 ; Diouf et al, 2018 ; Zou et al, 2018 ; Wang et al, 2021 ). Since the fiber quality is a quantitative trait and one controlled by multiple genes, QTLs might cumulatively contribute to its phenotypic variation, which provides a reasonable way to improve fiber quality via marker-assisted selection (MAS) ( Paterson et al, 2003 ; Rong et al, 2004 ; Zhang et al, 2012 ; Wang H. et al, 2015 ; Wang Y. et al, 2015 ).…”