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Inheritance of inflorescence architecture in sorghum

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Abstract

The grass inflorescence is the primary food source for humanity, and has been repeatedly shaped by human selection during the domestication of different cereal crops. Of all major cultivated cereals, sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench] shows the most striking variation in inflorescence architecture traits such as branch number and branch length, but the genetic basis of this variation is little understood. To study the inheritance of inflorescence architecture in sorghum, 119 recombinant inbred lines from an elite by exotic cross were grown in three environments and measured for 15 traits, including primary, secondary, and tertiary inflorescence branching. Eight characterized genes that are known to control inflorescence architecture in maize (Zea mays L.) and other grasses were mapped in sorghum. Two of these candidate genes, Dw3 and the sorghum ortholog of ramosa2, co-localized precisely with QTL of large effect for relevant traits. These results demonstrate the feasibility of using genomic and mutant resources from maize and rice (Oryza sativa L.) to investigate the inheritance of complex traits in related cereals.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Toby Kellogg, Sarah Hake, and Gael Pressoir for critical advice, Robert Klein for providing plant materials, Delilah Wood for assistance with scanning electron microscopy, and Mark Sorrells and David Benscher for providing threshing equipment. The MORPH Research Coordination Network provided financial assistance to PJB.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Genomic Diversity, Cornell University, 158 Biotechnology Building, Ithaca, NY, 14853, USA

    P. J. Brown, C. B. Acharya & S. Kresovich

  2. Department of Plant Biology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 14853, USA

    P. J. Brown & S. Kresovich

  3. Institute for Plant Genomics and Biotechnology, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, 77843, USA

    P. E. Klein

  4. Department of Horticulture, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, 77843, USA

    P. E. Klein

  5. Plant Gene Expression Center, Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, University of California-Berkeley, Albany, CA, 94710, USA

    E. Bortiri

  6. Department of Soil and Crop Sciences, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, 77843, USA

    W. L. Rooney

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  1. P. J. Brown
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  2. P. E. Klein
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  4. C. B. Acharya
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  5. W. L. Rooney
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  6. S. Kresovich
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Correspondence to P. J. Brown.

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Communicated by R. Bernardo

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Brown, P.J., Klein, P.E., Bortiri, E. et al. Inheritance of inflorescence architecture in sorghum. Theor Appl Genet 113, 931–942 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00122-006-0352-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00122-006-0352-9

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