**AWARDS ISSUED PRIOR TO JANUARY 20, 2025, WERE FUNDED UNDER PREVIOUS ADMINISTRATIONS AND MAY NOT REFLECT THE PRIORITIES AND POLICIES OF THE CURRENT ADMINISTRATION.** PUBLIC INTEREST IN GLUTEN-FREE FOODS AND BEVERAGES HAS INCREASED DRAMATICALLY IN RECENT YEARS. GRAIN SORGHUM [SORGHUM BICOLOR (L.) MOENCH] IS A COMMON INGREDIENT IN MANY GLUTEN-FREE PRODUCTS. AS A LOW-INPUT, HEAT- AND DROUGHT-TOLERANT CROP, SORGHUM IS PLAYING AN IMPORTANT ROLE IN CLIMATE ADAPTATION. HOWEVER, IMPROVING SORGHUM FOR HUMAN CONSUMPTION REQUIRES CLARIFYING THE GENE NETWORKS UNDERLYING THE ACCUMULATION OF MACROMOLECULES THAT INFLUENCE END-USE QUALITY AND NUTRITION, ESPECIALLY STARCH, PROTEIN, AND OIL. HERE, WE PROPOSE TO PERFORM THE FIRST SYSTEMS STUDY OF THE NETWORKS REGULATING THE PRODUCTION OF STARCH, PROTEIN, AND OIL IN SORGHUM GRAIN BY DISSECTING ENDOSPERM AND EMBRYO DEVELOPMENT IN A GRAIN QUALITY MAPPING POPULATION. THE GOALS ARE TO CLARIFY THE PATHWAYS RELATED TO SORGHUM GRAIN STARCH, PROTEIN, AND OIL BIOSYNTHESIS AND TO IDENTIFY POTENTIAL GENE TARGETS (ALLELES) FOR SORGHUM GRAIN QUALITY IMPROVEMENT. SPECIFICALLY, A GRAIN QUALITY MULTI-PARENT ADVANCED GENERATION INTERCROSS (MAGIC) POPULATION WILL BE USED IN MULTIOMIC NETWORK ANALYSES (TRANSCRIPTOMES, METABOLOMES) AT FIVE STAGES OF ENDOSPERM AND EMBRYO DEVELOPMENT. NETWORK ANALYSES OF TRANSCRIPTOMES OF SEED DEVELOPMENT IN THIS POPULATION WILL IDENTIFY THE INTERACTION OF GENES UNDERLYING THE ACCUMULATION OF THESE THREE HIGH-VALUE BIOMOLECULES. FIELD STUDIES WILL BE USED TO VALIDATE THE ANALYSIS AND TO ENSURE THAT WE ARE ABLE TO RELATE VARIATION IN GENE EXPRESSION WITH VARIATION IN PHENOTYPIC OUTCOMES RELEVANT TO PLANT BREEDING. TARGET ALLELES (THOSE THAT ARE IDENTIFIED IN THE NETWORK ANALYSIS AND CONFIRMED IN THE FIELD TO CONFER HIGH VS. LOW CONTENTS OF STARCH, PROTEIN, AND OIL) WILL BE IDENTIFIED TO ASSIST PLANT BREEDING.