Second and Third Generations of Transgenic Cotton

Genetically modified (GM) cotton is one of the three biotech crops which together occupy ~95% of the total area on which GM crops are currently grown. Being a nonfood crop, GM cotton is also cultivated in those countries which have a strict policy for the cultivation of GM crops. Cotton, therefore, has been the target of various genetic improvement programs such as insect resistance, biotic and abiotic stress tolerance traits, herbicide tolerance, and reduction of antinutrient contents such as gossypol, expressing different genes conferring these traits or sometimes stacked with other traits. As a result, different classes of GM cotton have been evolved, which can be referred to as first, second, and third. In this chapter, we will briefly discuss these generations of the GM cotton and provide our point of view for future engineering of GM traits in cotton.