Development of a cotton plant with stronger natural defenses due to a greater gland density and thus more gossypol in the leaves could soon be a reality, according to a Texas A&M AgriLife Research plant biotechnologist in College Station. Seeds and other parts of cotton possess dark glands containing toxic terpenoids such as gossypol that defend the plant against pests and pathogens, said Dr. Keerti Rathore, AgriLife Research plant biotechnologist in the Institute for Plant Genomics and Biotechnology at Texas A&M University. Rathore and his team compared RNA production in the embryos from a glanded cotton and a mutant glandless plant. These ...