New research in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences is examining novel ways of improving the cotton plant, a vital cash crop in North Carolina.

Dr. Candace Haigler, a cotton fiber specialist in the Crop Science and Botany departments, is working on new ways of making the cotton plant more resistant to the negative effects of cooler temperatures and making cotton fiber stronger.

Her work focuses on how the cotton fiber wall becomes thick by the process of cellulose synthesis, or the creation of cellulose, as well as how to make the cotton fiber stronger by improving this process. Haigler also looks at other aspects of the cotton plant, such as physiology and fiber cell structure, in hopes of improving the cotton plant.
Haigler and her peers are just beginning to understand cellulose synthesis sufficiently to attempt to control it by manipulating plant genes.

Cotton fiber is composed mostly of cellulose, located in the secondary cell wall of the fiber, making the cotton fiber one of the purest forms of cellulose. “Cellulose makes cell walls of cotton fibers thick, which is important in making strong textiles that can absorb dyes for clothing more efficiently,” says Haigler.

As the major structural component of plants, cellulose provides shape, strength and other functions important to the plant. Cellulose is also the most abundant renewable resource on the planet and is formed from polymers of glucose molecules, or long strings of sugar molecules. More research in the control and regulation of cellulose synthesis is important since there remains much to be discovered about the process, Haigler says.

“ New knowledge would enable biotechnology companies to engineer plants to make cellulose more efficiently and in improved forms,” she says. Cellulose in agricultural waste can also be a source of biomass, or environmentally friendly energy, if it is converted to fuel.

Haigler’s work complements other ongoing cotton research projects at N.C. State. Faculty in entomology, plant pathology and soil science breed new pest-resistant varieties of cotton, for example, while faculty in agricultural economics assist farmers in the planning, management and marketing skills necessary for improved cotton productivity.

In addition to Cotton Inc., a consortium of cotton producers, the National Science Foundation, the state of Texas, Texas Tech University and private companies have supported Haigler’s research.

— N.C. State News Services