MSU Institute Continues High-Impact Cotton Genetic Research

April 21, 2015

The Institute for Genomics, Biocomputing & Biotechnology (IGBB) continues its run of high profile publications with an April 20, 2015 paper in the journal Nature Biotechnology. The article "Sequencing of allotetraploid cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L. acc. TM-1) provides a resource for fiber improvement" is co-authored by IGBB director Dr. Daniel G. Peterson (http://www.nature.com/nbt/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nbt.3207.html). Of note, Nature Biotechnology has a Thomson Reuters journal impact factor of 39.080. Of the 8539 journals that Thomson Reuters indexes, only twenty (i.e., 0.23%) have impact ratings greater than 30. The IGBB's cotton Nature Biotechnology paper represents the eighth time the institute has had a publication with an impact factor over 30 since 2009.

As for the scientific value of the research described in the Nature Biotechnology paper, Peterson says, "Gossypium hirsutum, commonly known as upland cotton, is the cotton species grown commercially in Mississippi and throughout most of the cotton-growing regions of the world. It is the upland cotton DNA sequence that will ultimately be of most use to cotton breeders, farmers, and scientists looking to keep cotton plants healthy and productive." Peterson notes that the importance of cotton genetic resources is especially relevant today with climate change and invasive pest species jeopardizing the productivity of the cotton industry.

In addition to his role as IGBB director, Peterson is a professor in the Department of Plant & Soil Sciences.

The IGBB is a university-wide institute jointly governed by the Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station, the College of Veterinary Medicine, the Division of Agriculture, Forestry and Veterinary Medicine, and the Office of Research and Economic Development. Additionally, the IGBB is a member of MSU's High Performance Computing Collaboratory.

For more on the research, contact Peterson at peterson@igbb.msstate.edu or visit the IGBB website at www.igbb.msstate.edu.