Skip to main content
ARS Home » Plains Area » Lubbock, Texas » Cropping Systems Research Laboratory » Plant Stress and Germplasm Development Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #268466

Title: Sorghum TILLING Population - A Community Resource for Sorghum Improvement

Author
item Xin, Zhanguo
item CROSS, MICHAEL - Southern Cross University
item Burow, Gloria
item Burke, John

Submitted to: American Society of Plant Biologists Annual Meeting
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 3/11/2011
Publication Date: 8/6/2011
Citation: Xin, Z., Cross, M.J., Burow, G.B., Burke, J.J. 2011. Sorghum TILLING Population - A Community Resource for Sorghum Improvement [abstract]. American Society of Plant Biologists. Paper No. 15020.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L. Moench) is the fifth most important grain crop and serves as a major food staple and fodder resource for much of the world, especially in arid and semi-arid regions. Sorghum is also a promising bioenergy crop due to its excellent tolerance to drought/heat stresses. Completion of the sorghum genome sequence has opened new avenues for sorghum functional genomics. However, the availability of genetic resources, specifically mutant lines, is limited. Chemical mutagenesis of sorghum germplasm, followed by screening for mutants altered in important agronomic traits, represents a rapid and effective means of addressing this limitation. We have created a sorghum mutant library consisting of >5000 pedigreed M4 lines through single seed descent from M1 in the elite inbred line BTx623 that was used for sequencing the genome. The mutant library displays a wide range of mutant phenotype in morphological, physiological, and agronomic traits (http://www.lbk.ars.usda.gov/psgd/index-sorghum.aspx). Many mutants, such as brown midrib and erect leaf, have potential applications in improving the biomass yield and quality of sorghum. Recently, we have established a high throughput reverse genetic platform to identify mutant series for genes with known sequence through TILLING (targeting induced local lesions in genome). Our TILLING platform uses none-labeled primers that can be optimized in users’ lab. Several genes have been TILLED using this platform. We intend to make the TILLING platform accessible to public for collaborative research.