Significance
Cotton fibers form through a fascinating process of single-cell development involving numerous modifications and fundamental cellular processes. Cotton fiber is among the most exaggerated plant cell types with some varieties of mature cotton fiber reaching a length of 6 cm or one-third the height of an Arabidopsis plant. (Kim and Triplett, 2001). Thus, cotton fiber is considered to be a model system for studying cell fate, differentiation, elongation, and cell-wall biosynthesis. The importance of cotton fiber development to fundamental biological research is magnified by the fact that cotton is the leading natural fiber crop in the world and a mainstay of the US economy. The economic value of cotton fiber grown in the US is typically ~$6 billion/year plus $0.5 billion/year for cottonseed oil and meal (NCCA, 2001; Smith, 1999). Cotton fiber exports account for ~$2 billion/year of the US trade surplus. Business revenue stimulated by the crop is estimated at ~$120 billion. Texas and California each produces ~30% of the US crop. Fiber quality (length, strength, and micronaire) is a major economic factor especially given growing competition with synthetic fibers. The study on early events of fiber development will not only complement fundamental research on cell fate using other model systems such as yeast, Arabidopsis, and mammals, but also render research results directly to the improvement of natural fiber textiles. Factors controlling spatial and temporal regulation of fiber cell initiation affect the number of fiber cell initials and percentage of these cells developing into long spinnable fibers, directly affecting fiber quality and yield in cotton production.
