Harnessing polyploidy for climate-resilient crops: Lessons from the evolutionary model, allotetraploid cotton.
Wang M, Wang R, Hu G, Zhang X, Wendel JF
Climate Adaptation
Cotton's wild evolutionary trick of doubling its entire genome is now a roadmap for plant breeders working to keep the food and fiber crops in your region alive through hotter, drier summers.
Some plants, including cotton, evolved by accidentally merging two different species' entire genetic blueprints into one plant — essentially getting a double set of instruction manuals. Having two sets of genes gives the plant more options to try when conditions get tough, like drought or heat. Researchers are studying cotton as a model to understand how this 'double genome' trick works, hoping to apply those lessons to make other crops more resilient to climate change.
Key Findings
Allotetraploid cotton carries two complete genome sets from two ancestral species, providing a larger toolkit for adapting to environmental stress.
Whole genome duplication events in plants are associated with novel regulatory capacities that can enhance climate resilience.
Cotton serves as an evolutionary model organism for understanding how polyploidy can be harnessed in crop improvement programs.
chevron_right Technical Summary
Scientists are studying how cotton naturally evolved to have double the usual number of chromosomes — and how that genetic flexibility might help us breed crops that can withstand the heat, drought, and unpredictability of climate change.
Abstract Preview
Escalating pressures of global climate change necessitate developing agricultural systems and crop varieties with enhanced resilience. Polyploidy, the state of possessing multiple complete sets of ...
open_in_new Read full abstractAbstract copyright held by the original publisher.
Species Mentioned
Was this useful?
Want to tell us more? (optional)
Thanks for the note!
Something went wrong — please try again.
Too many submissions. Try again in an hour.
Targeted knockout of a host peroxisomal peptidase confers field resistance to...
The corn in your grocery store and the staple food keeping millions of East African families fed is under serious threat from a viral disease that can wipe o...
Cotton 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 cellulose and may contain minor percentages of waxes, fats, pectins, and water. Under natural condi...