News Plants

Modified genes can distort wild cotton’s interactions with insects

In Mexico, acquired herbicide resistance and insecticide genes can disrupt cotton’s ecosystem

pink flower on a cotton plant in the Yucatan Peninsula

A cotton plant found in the Yucatan Peninsula sports a pinkish flower, suggesting the plant had been pollinated by insects. The flowers start pale white, then turn pink, then violet as more insects visit and deposit pollen.

Valeria Vázquez Barrios

By Emiliano Rodríguez Mega

- More than 2 years ago

Cotton plants native to Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula may all look the same — unkempt and untamed bushes with flowers that shift from pale yellow to violet as pollinators visit them.