Functional Genomics and Plant Modeling for Sorghum Improvement

Sorghum bicolor is a prominent food, forage, and bioenergy crop, and sorghum productivity will benefit from continued development of genomic resources and models to predict sorghum performance. In collaboration with the Joint Genome Institute and the HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology, a suite of improved genomic resources for sorghum were generated, including a more accurate genome assembly, transcriptome annotation, and atlas of transcript expression across multiple tissues and developmental stages. These genomic resources combined with modeling approaches to predict plant performance will improve the rate at which performance gains can be achieved in sorghum. As an example, genomics and plant modeling were used to identify a sorghum gene regulating leaf angle and to predict the effect of leaf angle on light interception and performance. These procedures are being extended to additional phenotypes using 3D reconstructions of sorghum plants obtained from depth imaging. Continued development and application of these resources will accelerate sorghum improvement.