Transcriptomic and metabolomic insight into how cotton fiber transitions to secondary wall synthesis, represses lignification, and prolongs elongation

We sequenced the fiber transcriptomes of two commercial cotton species, Gossypium barbadense and Gossypium hirsutum. Early fiber development is generally parallel within the two species, however Gossypium barbadense ultimately produces longer finer fibers that are more desirable to the textile industry. We performed 100-bp paired-end sequencing at 5 timepoints in fiber development (10, 15, 18, 21, and 28 days post anthesis). This was followed by differential gene expression analysis at each timepoint between the two species and across timepoints within a single species to identify transcripts that may contribute to the enhanced fiber quality of Gossypium barbadense.