International genetic, cytogenetic and germplasm resources for cotton genomics and genetic improvement

A general understanding of the nature, uses and need of cotton germplasm collections is important to maintaining support for them and their utilization. Such support is vital to addressing the future challenges and needs of cotton, which will be many and varied. The solutions to many of these challenges will be genetic, and involve the scientific utilization of cotton genetic and germplasm resources. In this presentation, we will look at a number of key sites from around the world, to illustrate the types of genetic, cytogenetic and germplasm collections that exist. The taxa that constitute cotton germplasm can be categorized into primary, secondary and tertiary "gene pools" that progressively connote both the relative difficulty of introgression and their likelihood of harboring new genetic diversity. We will exemplify past and ongoing usage. Patterns of introgression reflect the gene-pool classifications. The International Cotton Genome Initiative (ICGI) is facilitating globalization of scientific interactions that affect these collections, their access, and their contributions to cotton science and genetic improvement - these will benefit cotton worldwide. Lastly, we will look at what the near future may bring in the way of new paradigms for utilization of genetic stocks, cytogenetic stocks, germplasm and molecular markers in cotton science and genetic improvement.