THE PURPOSE OF THE PROPOSED FASE RESEARCH IS TO SUBSTANTIALLY IMPROVE WAXY GRAIN SORGHUM [SORGHUM BICOLOR (L.) MOENCH] GERMPLASM BASED UPON EXTENSIVE PILOT STUDIES AND FEEDBACK FROM COMMERCIAL END USERS OF WAXY INBRED LINES AND HYBRID PARENTS PUBLICLY RELEASED BY PI YERKA. THE WAXY TRAIT IS A HIGH-VALUE ENDOSPERM TRAIT ASSOCIATED WITH HIGH DIGESTIBILITY BY ANIMALS, RAPID FERMENTATION INTO ETHANOL, THE PRODUCTION OF ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES, AND IMPROVED BAKING PROPERTIES DUE TO HIGH-AMYLOPECTIN (LOW AMYLOSE) STARCH CONTENT. WHILE THE WAXY TRAIT HAD BEEN IDENTIFIED PREVIOUSLY, THESE HYBRIDS ARE THE ONLY PUBLICLY-AVAILABLE ONES WITH NO YIELD DRAG OR POOR AGRONOMIC PERFORMANCE COMPARED TO NEAR-ISOGENIC OR CLOSELY-RELATED WILD-TYPE HYBRIDS. NEVERTHELESS, OUR INDUSTRY COLLABORATORS HAVE IDENTIFIED ADDITIONAL TARGET TRAITS (LARGER SEED SIZE, IMPROVED PROTEIN CONTENT AND DIGESTIBILITY, IMPROVED GERMINATION, SUGARCANE APHID RESISTANCE, AND EARLIER MATURITY) THAT WOULD IMPROVE THEIR COMMERCIAL VALUE, EXPAND PRODUCTION INTO ADDITIONAL REGIONS, AND HELP OPEN UNDEREXPLORED, HIGH-VALUE DOMESTIC MARKETS.FOR EXAMPLE, HIGH PROTEIN DIGESTIBILITY (HPD) COMBINED WITH WAXY ENDOSPERMS RESULTS IN SORGHUM FLOUR (WHICH IS GLUTEN-FREE) THAT PERFORMS SIMILARLY TO WHEAT FLOUR IN SOME APPLICATIONS. HIGHER ENDOSPERM FREE AMINO ACID (FAN) PROFILES ASSOCIATED WITH SOME WAXY GENOTYPES IMPROVE FERMENTABILITY IN ETHANOL PRODUCTION AND CRAFT DISTILLING. STACKED WAXY/ HPD LINES AND HIGH-FAN WAXY LINES EXIST, BUT THE WAXY GENOTYPES USED RETAIN SOME YIELD DRAG THAT HAS BEEN OVERCOME IN OUR MATERIALS. IN ADDITION, PUBLISHED STUDIES USING WAXY, HPD, STACKED WAXY/HPD, OR HIGH-FAN TRAITS USE DIVERSE (NOT RELATED BY DESCENT) GENOTYPES OR BREEDING LINES EXISTING WITHIN A SINGLE PROGRAM (NOT PUBLICLY AVAILABLE) SO THAT IT IS DIFFICULT TO ASSESS THE EFFECT OF BACKGROUND GENETICS ON ENDOSPERM YIELD AND QUALITY. NO WAXY GERMPLASM HAS BEEN PUBLICLY RELEASED HAVING ALL OF THE TRAITS TARGETED BY OUR COLLABORATORS. THEREFORE, SIGNIFICANT EFFORTS ARE NEEDED TO IMPROVE WAXY SORGHUM GERMPLASM. WE WILL USE A SET BIPARENTAL POPULATIONS DERIVED FROM COMMON, PUBLICLY-AVAILABLE HYBRID PARENT LINES (A TRAINING POPULATION) TO DEVELOP HIGH-DIMENSIONAL MARKERS AND GENOMIC PREDICTION (GP) MODELS. SIMULTANEOUSLY, WE WILL FINISH DEVELOPMENT OF A NEW UNR MAPPING POPULATION THAT IS GENETICALLY SIMILAR TO THE TRAINING POPULATION AND INCORPORATES ALL TARGET TRAITS TO VALIDATE GP MODELS OVER MULTIPLE GENERATIONS, INTEGRATING MARKER INFORMATION FOR EACH TRAIT IN THE PROCESS. THIS WILL ENABLE US TO DEVELOP NEW PUBLICLY-AVAILABLE BREEDING LINES HAVING IMPROVED ENDOSPERM STARCH YIELD, FERMENTABILITY, DIGESTIBILITY, AND PROTEIN CONTENT. THIS APPROACH HAS NOT PREVIOUSLY BEEN FOLLOWED FOR IMPROVING SPECIALTY SORGHUM ENDOSPERMS, BUT IT WILL ADDRESS EXISTING AND EMERGING MARKET OPPORTUNITIES.THE MOST EFFECTIVE WAY TO MINIMIZE TIME-TO-MARKET IN A BREEDING PROGRAM FOCUSED ON END-OF-SEASON (POST-FLOWERING/POST-SELECTION) TRAITS LIKE GRAIN YIELD AND ENDOSPERM QUALITY IS TO UTILIZE GP STRATEGIES. TRADITIONAL GP MODELS PREDICT THE GENOTYPIC BREEDING VALUE OF PLANTS BASED ON MARKER INFORMATION OBTAINED WHEN THEY ARE YOUNG, BEFORE FLOWERING, PROVIDING A MORE RELIABLE AND INEXPENSIVE WAY TO IDENTIFY POTENTIAL PARENTS EACH GENERATION THAN PHENOTYPIC OR PEDIGREE-BASED SELECTION METHODS ALONE. SEVERAL RECENT PAPERS HAVE DEMONSTRATED THE UTILITY OF GP METHODS FOR SORGHUM BREEDING PROGRAMS IN JAPAN, BRAZIL, AND AUSTRALIA. THESE STUDIES EMPHASIZED THE UTILITY OF GP FOR ACHIEVING GENETIC GAINS, BUT NONE OF THEM PHENOTYPED FOR ENDOSPERM TRAITS. THE PROPOSED EFFORTS WILL USE THIS NEW TOOL TO SUBSTANTIALLY IMPROVE WAXY GRAIN SORGHUM GERMPLASM WHILE INCORPORATING THE TARGET TRAITS LISTED ABOVE.EFFECTIVE GP MODEL DEVELOPMENT REQUIRES GENOMIC MARKER-TRAIT ASSOCIATIONS. TWO RECENT GENOMICS PAPERS IDENTIFIED SNPS ASSOCIATED WITH GRAIN QUALITY (INCLUDING WAXY, FAT, AND PROTEIN TRAITS) USING THE GRAIN SORGHUM ASSOCIATION PANEL (SAP) OR QTLS IN WAXY/HPD MAPPING POPULATIONS. WHILE THESE PAPERS PUBLISHED SEQUENCE DATA, A CONSISTENT PROBLEM WITH USING IT IS THAT IT TENDS TO LACK SUFFICIENT READ DEPTH TO GUIDE MARKER DEVELOPMENT (AND THEREFORE GP MODEL DEVELOPMENT) BY OTHER RESEARCHERS, EVEN WHEN WORKING WITH SIMILAR PEDIGREES. OUR EFFORTS WILL ADDRESS THIS BY CONDUCTING WHOLE-GENOME RESEQUENCING OF PARENT LINES (SELECTED RECURRENT PARENTS AND ENDOSPERM TRAIT DONOR PARENTS) AND THE TWO BEST BC1F5 LINES, AND RELEASING THE MODELS AND DATA; THUS PAVING THE WAY FOR OTHERS TO LOCALLY ADAPT OUR GERMPLASM USING GP.OUR TEAM HAS EXPERTISE IN PLANT BREEDING, BIOINFORMATICS, FERMENTATION SCIENCE, AND GENOMIC PREDICTION. WE HAVE LETTERS OF SUPPORT FROM RICHARDSON SEEDS (THE LARGEST SORGHUM CLASSICAL BREEDING COMPANY IN THE U.S.), NULIFE MARKET (CURRENTLY COMMERCIALLY PRODUCING PI YERKA'S WAXY SORGHUM HYBRIDS), THE INTERNATIONAL CROPS RESEARCH INSTITUTE FOR THE SEMIARID TROPICS (ICRISAT, A MAJOR INTERNATIONAL AGRICULTURAL R&D ORGANIZATION FOCUSED ON NUTRITIONALLY-ENHANCED DUAL-PURPOSE SORGHUM AND BIOFUELS, HEADQUARTERED IN INDIA), BENSON HILL BIOSYSTEMS (DEVELOPER OF BREED® SOFTWARE SPECIFICALLY DESIGNED TO ASSIST COLLABORATORS IN USING GP), THE USDA-ARS GRAIN QUALITY LAB IN MANHATTAN, KS (DR. SCOTT BEAN), A LARGE LOCAL BREWERY/DISTILLERY (THE DEPOT CRAFT BREWERY AND DISTILLERY; MR. BRANDON WRIGHT), AND A LOCAL FARMER (BAKER RANCH AND BREWERY BEEF; MR. KARL BAKER) WHO USES DISTILLER'S GRAINS AND SORGHUM FORAGE IN LOCAL BEEF PRODUCTION. EACH HAS AGREED TO PARTNER WITH US ON THE PROPOSED WORK FOR LITTLE OR NO COST, AND TO PROVIDE FEEDBACK DURING THE LINE DEVELOPMENT PROCESS. THUS, WE ARE IN AN IDEAL POSITION TO LEAD INTERNATIONALLY-IMPACTFUL IMPROVEMENT OF WAXY SORGHUM FOR DIVERSE FOOD, FEED, AND FERMENTATION APPLICATIONS WHILE BUILDING LOCAL MARKETS IN THE NORTHERN NEVADA COMMUNITY. FUNDING IS REQUESTED FOR GP MODELING AND BREEDING LINE DEVELOPMENT. FUTURE FUNDING WILL BE SOUGHT TO FINISH AND TEST BREEDING LINES AND HYBRIDS RESULTING FROM THESE EFFORTS.OUR LONG-TERM GOAL IS TO UTILIZE GENOMICS-ASSISTED PLANT BREEDING METHODOLOGIES TO DEVELOP HIGH-VALUE SORGHUM GERMPLASM THAT WILL GROW WELL IN NORTHERN NEVADA'S HIGH-ELEVATION ENVIRONMENTS AND CONTRIBUTE TO INNOVATIVE COLLABORATION AND AGRICULTURAL SUSTAINABILITY AROUND THE WORLD. THE SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES OF THIS RESEARCH ARE TO:GENOTYPE AND PHENOTYPE A TRAINING POPULATION, DEVELOPED FROM PUBLICLY-AVAILABLE MATERIALS, PROVIDED BY RICHARDSON SEEDS THROUGH AN MTRA (YEAR 1).DEVELOP MARKERS AND GP MODELS FOR BREEDING LINE DEVELOPMENT (YEARS 1-3).USE BREEDING LINES DERIVED FROM THE NEW UNR MAPPING POPULATION (WHOSE PARENTS ARE CLOSELY RELATED TO THE TRAINING POPULATION) TO VALIDATE THE GP MODELS (YEARS 3-4).CONDUCT COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH WITH INDUSTRY, GOVERNMENT, AND INTERNATIONAL PARTNERS TO IDENTIFY AND PUBLICLY RELEASE THE MOST PROMISING BREEDING LINES FROM THE YERKA LAB (YEAR 4).THIS WORK WILL RESULT IN THE PUBLIC RELEASE OF SORGHUM BREEDING LINES FROM UNR HAVING DIFFERENT COMBINATIONS OF HIGH-VALUE TRAITS THAT MAY BE FURTHER SELECTED UPON, DOMESTICALLY AND INTERNATIONALLY, TO GENERATE LOCALLY-ADAPTED, HIGH-YIELDING HYBRIDS. THE SEQUENCE INFORMATION AT IMPROVED READ DEPTHS, MARKERS, AND GENOMIC PREDICTION MODELS OPTIMIZED ON THE NEW MAPPING POPULATION HAVING THE HIGH-VALUE TRAITS DESIRED BY OUR COLLABORATORS WILL BE MADE PUBLICLY AVAILABLE TO PROMOTE WIDER ADOPTION OF GP IN GLOBAL SORGHUM BREEDING PROGRAMS. THE BREEDING LINES WILL BE IMMEDIATELY USED BY OUR ACADEMIC, GOVERNMENT, AND INDUSTRY COLLABORATORS ACROSS THE U.S. AND IN INDIA, WHEREVER HIGHLY-DIGESTIBLE SORGHUM GRAIN AND BIOMASS ARE NEEDED. IT WILL HAVE LARGE IMPLICATIONS FOR MARKETS IN AFRICA, SOUTH AMERICA, CHINA AND AUSTRALIA THROUGH ICRISAT.

Board Of Regents Of Nevada System Of Higher Education

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