Construction of a bacterial artificial chromosome library for Gossypium herbaceum var. africanum

Gossypium herbaceum var. africanum is the only wild cotton species within the cultivated diploid G. herbaceum. As the A sub-genome donor of tetraploid cotton, it is characterized by its resistance to insects, diseases, and other adversities. We have constructed the first bacterial artificial chromosome library (BAC) for G. herbaceum var. africanum. With high quality and broad coverage, this library includes 75000 clones, with an average insert size of about 115 kb and fewer than 4% empty clones. Our library is approximately five-fold the size of the A-genome (1667 Mb) and it provides 99.3% probability for isolating genes of interest or their sequences. Using nine SSR markers that are located on five different chromosomes and linked with resistance to Verticillium wilt, seven of nine could amplify the 40 superpools and got 1–14 hits. Because of its moderate wide coverage and relative large insert size, this library will be an important genomic resource for classifying and analyzing the evolution of cotton species, as well as for isolating disease-resistance genes and control elements.