The International Cotton Genome Initiative

Genome technologies present an unprecedented opportunity for the scientific community to make significant genetic improvements in cotton. The International Cotton Genomics Initiative (ICGI) at the fundamental level is an effort to develop a framework for collaboration and cooperation on cotton genomics research and its application. The last decade has seen unprecedented advances in the use of DNA technology to unravel the genetic secrets of plants and animals. International collaborative efforts are underway to map and characterize the genomes of many important organisms. The recent publication of the sequencing effort for Arabidopsis and Oryza illustrates the scope and power of the technology. The study of the complex allopolyploid cotton genome is scientifically very challenging and requires a coordinated multidisciplinary research effort. Many challenges face cotton production at the present and in the future. Concerns over water use and pesticide inputs abound. In some important growing regions of the world, a production plateau has been reached and stability of production is a serious concern and intense competition from man-made fibers jeopardizes future profitability of cotton production. The ICGI was created at a meeting of cotton researchers in Canberra, Australia in February 2000. Since then, productive workshops have been held in Montpellier, France in 2001 and Nanjing, China in 2002. The objectives of ICGI are to: 1) reduce redundancy of research effort and maximize rate of progress in research to understand the cotton genome by providing a forum for international researchers, 2) foster tool development to begin integrating genetic and physical maps, 3) accelerate development of consensus cotton linkage map comprised of framework markers that are transferable from lab to lab, 4) foster rapid application of new genomic tools to cotton improvement, 5) develop comprehensive forum for exchange and communication within cotton scientific community and with the Arabidopsis model genome community and 6) develop standardized nomenclature for DNA markers, maps and etc. Progress has been made in many of these areas the past three years yet much of the results have not made it out of the individual labs working many times in isolation from each other. Barriers still exist that prevent meaningful collaboration that would enable real gains in cotton genomics that would lead to sustained genetic improvements in cotton germplasm. ICGI is the only forum that can facilitate the necessary multidisciplinary research efforts on a global scale to address some of these issues.