An insight into cotton genetic engineering (Gossypium hirsutum L.): current endeavors and prospects

Abstract

Cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) is the most significant cash crop and backbone of global textile industry. The importance of cotton can hardly be over emphasized in the economy of cotton-growing countries as cotton and cotton products contribute significantly to the foreign exchange earnings. Cotton breeders have continuously sought to improve cotton's quality through conventional breeding in the past centuries; however, due to limited availability of germplasm with resistant to particular insects, pests and diseases, further advancements in cotton breeding have been challenging. The progress in transformation systems in cotton paved the way for the genetic improvement by enabling the researchers to transfer specific genes among the species and to incorporate them in cotton genome. With the development of first genetically engineered cotton plant in 1987, several characteristics such as biotic (insects, viruses, bacteria and fungi) resistance, abiotic (drought, chilling, heat, salt), herbicide tolerance, manipulation of oil and fiber traits have been reported to date. Genetic engineering has emerged as a necessary tool in cotton breeding programs, strengthening classical strategies to improve yield and yield contributing factors. The current review highlights the advances and endeavors in cotton genetic engineering achieved by researchers worldwide utilizing modern biotechnological approaches. Future prospects of the transgenic cotton are also discussed.

Inducing osmotic stress leads to better genetic transformation efficiency in cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.)

“…The suitability of the LB4404 strain harboring various plasmids for the transformation of cotton has been reported by various researchers who obtained 0.4%, 0.26%, 0.7%, and 0.55%, respectively (Khan et al, 2011;Rao et al, 2011;Bajwa et al, 2013;Bakhsh et al, 2014Bakhsh et al, , 2015. In the present study, we used 1000 embryo explants for each treatment; the best and highest transformation (1.10%) efficiency in primary transformants resulted from KCl treatment, while transformation efficiency in NaCl and control remained 0.70% and 0.40%, respectively.…”

“…As osmotic stress has been highly related to direct shoot organogenesis (Huang and Liu, 2002), and most of the genetic transformation studies in cotton emphasize direct shoot organogenesis using embryos as explants (Rao et al, 2011;Bajwa et al, 2013;Bakhsh et al, 2015), we designed the present study to determine transformation efficiency in cotton by subjecting cotton embryos to salt stress. The surface sterilization of cotton seed with hydrogen peroxide (25%) resulted in zero contamination as well as good germination in MS medium.…”

“…Cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) is an important fiber and oil crop with great economic value worldwide. Genetically modified cotton is cultivated on more than 24 million hectares worldwide (FAO, 2014) and makes a significant contribution to the income of 16.5 million small, resourcepoor farmers in developing countries (James, 2014;Bakhsh et al, 2015). The global adaptation rates of genetic modify cotton have increased 70% compared with conventional cotton (James, 2014).…”

Present status of cotton leaf curl virus disease (CLCUVD): a major threat to cotton production

“…Today, Biotech cotton is most widely accepted, marketed and cultivated on more than 24 million hectares throughout the world. First GM crop was commercialized in 1996 and now 70% biotech cotton is adapted globally (Bakhsh et al, 2015). Now it is possible via biotechnology or genetic engineering to incorporate resistant gene into the commercially valuable crops against diseases.…”

Development of insect-resistant cotton lines with targeted expression of insecticidal gene

“…With the advancement in genetic engineering technologies, several genes have been incorporated in cotton. Insecticidal (cry) genes from Bacillus thuringiensis [4][5][6][7], cowpea trypsin inhibitor [8] and others provide resistance to insect pests and have been commercialized [9].…”