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A technology that uses "gene chips," which can help analyze tens of thousands of different DNA elements in a cotton plant, could lead to cotton varieties with superior traits and improved fiber quality.
Dr. Jeff Chen, a Texas Agricultural Experiment Station scientist, is working on a $5.7 million National Science Foundation project led by Thomas Osborn at the University of Wisconsin, and a project funded by the National Institutes of Health on translating gene expression mechanisms using plants as a model system.
Chen's work involves DNA micro-arrays or "gene chips." In his laboratory, by spotting DNA elements directly onto 1X3-inch glass slides, one chip can potentially contain all annotated genes (approximately 30,000) of an animal or plant genome.
The technology "provides a high-throughput tool for practical applications," Chen said. Those include a wide variety from medical diagnostics to plant breeding programs.
The work was initially funded by Cotton Incorporated and the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board.
Collaborators include Barbara Triplett, a fiber biologist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service in New Orleans; and the Texas A&M University staff of David Stelly, a molecular cytogeneticist; Peggy Thaxton, a cotton breeder; and Sing-Hoi Sze, a computer scientist.
They recently received a five-year award of $2.5 million from the National Science Foundation Plant Genome Research Program for their ongoing studies of physiological and genetic effects on early stages of cotton fiber development.
Chen's team is collaborating with Jonathan Wendel, project leader of the National Science Foundation-funded Cotton Evolution Genome Project at Iowa State University.
The two research groups will collectively develop a high-quality DNA microarray resource that is open and accessible to the entire cotton community.
The microarrays will eventually include all favorable genes from cotton researchers so they can be used in cotton breeding and field applications.
"This project represents a clear example where Cotton Incorporated and state-funded research initiatives have had a 'multiplier-effect' on garnering substantial federal funding for cotton research," Chen said. "In the current era of genome biology, plant researchers are working together in groups to share expertise necessary to generate large amounts of genomic resources for the entire research community and to the cotton industry."
