The cultivated Gossypium A genome diploid species G.arboreum and G.herbaceum and the allotetraploid species G.hirsutum and G.barbadense share common morphology for various floral traits,which offers an ideal system in which to investigate genetic mechanisms that differentiate diploid and tetraploid genomes.For example,knowing how a single phenotype behaves in the diploids,and comparing the same trait with different dosage effects in the tetraploids,may provide a means to study inter- and intra-genomic interactions in the polyploid genome.