A high density SLAF-SNP genetic map and QTL detection for fibre quality traits in Gossypium hirsutum

Background Upland Cotton (Gossypium hirsutum) is a very important cash crop known for its high quality natural fiber. Recent advances in sequencing technologies provide powerful tools with which to explore the cotton genome for single nucleotide polymorphism marker identification and high density genetic map construction toward more reliable quantitative trait locus mapping.