Conclusion
The strong background of cotton genetics and the great efforts of the cotton genome consortium led to the start of cotton genome sequencing in 2007. With the wealth of cotton genome sequence information, cotton genomics research has entered the phase of fast functional characterization of all genes . However, despite of great efforts in whole genome sequencing and resequencing of cotton, large knowledge gaps still persist as compared to model plants Arabidopsis and rice. Therefore, next stage of cotton genomics require s draft genome refinement, resequencing broad diversity panels and diverse wild relatives to better understand its genome. Whereas, for taking the full benefit s of the available genomic information on cotton genes, only the multidisciplinary integrated approach allow s their functional characterization. So, advances in functional genomics of cotton will depend on developing high -throughput technologies and integrating multidisciplinary approaches including genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, epigenomics and bioinformatics in upcoming cotton improvement programs.