How the photosynthetic characteristics of insect-resistant transgenic cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) respond to light or whether this genetic transformation could result in unintended effects on their photosynthetic and physiological processes is not well known. Two experiments were conducted to investigate the shapes of net photosynthetic rate (P N), stomatal conductance (g s), apparent light use efficiency (LUEapp) and water use efficiency (WUE) light-response curves for single leaves of Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis) and Bt+CpTI (cowpea trypsin inhibitor) transgenic cotton plants and their non-transgenic counterparts, respectively. Results showed that the significant difference in response of P N and WUE to light between transgenic cotton and non-transgenic cotton occured but not always throughout the growing season or in different experiments or for all transgenic cotton lines. It was highly dependent on growth stage, culture condition and variety, but no obvious difference between any transgenic cotton and non-transgenic cotton in the shapes of g s and LUEapp light-response curves was observed in two experiments at different growth stages. In the field experiments, transgenic Bt+CpTI cotton was less sensitive to response of P N to high irradiance at the boll-opening stage. In pot experiments, WUE light-response curves of both Bt transgenic cotton and Bt+CpTI transgenic cotton progressively decreased whereas non-transgenic cotton slowly reached a maximum at high irradiance at boll-opening stage. We supposed that culture environment could affect the photosynthesis of transgenic cotton both directly and indirectly through influencing either foreign genes expression or growth and physiological processes. and C. X. Sun ... [et al.].