Discussion
The use or adaptation of these improved methods will facilitate experiments with higher throughput to understand the biological factors controlling the variable shapes of young cotton fibers or other elongating single cells. This research also enables the exploration of links between early cell shape and mature cotton fiber quality in diverse field-grown cotton accessions.
Methods
We developed semi-automated imaging methods for young cotton fibers and a novel machine learning algorithm for the rapid detection of tapered (narrow) or hemisphere (wide) fibers in homogeneous or mixed populations.
Results
The new methods were accurate for diverse accessions of G. hirsutum and G. barbadense and at least eight times more efficient than manual methods. Narrow fibers dominated in the three G. barbadense accessions analyzed, whereas the three G. hirsutum accessions showed a mixture of tapered and hemisphere fibers in varying proportions.