Project title: Discovery and development of alleles contributing to sorghum drought tolerance.

Main thematic targeted area: Subprogramme 2: Comparative genomics for gene

discovery Partners, and corresponding institutions: Andrew H. Paterson (PI), Distinguished Research Professor, Univ. Georgia

(paterson@uga.edu) I.D.K. Atokple, Sorghum Breeder, SARI, Tamale, Ghana (idkatokple@yahoo.com) C. Thomas Hash, Principal Scientist (Breeding), ICRISAT, Patancheru, Hyderabad

502 324, Andhra Pradesh, India (c.hash@cgiar.org) S.P. Mehtre, Associate Professor, Dept of Genetics and Plant Breeding, Marathwada

Agricultural University, Parbhani, Maharashtra, India (shivaji_pmehtre@rediffmail.com)

Abdalla Mohamed, Sorghum Breeder. ARC, Wad Medani, Sudan (abdalla_moh2002@yahoo.com)

Nadoor Seetharama, Director, National Research Center for Sorghum, Rajendranagar, Hyderabad 500 030, Andhra Pradesh, India (seetharama@nrcsorghum.res.in)

Sorghum is the most drought-tolerant dual-purpose (grain + straw) cereal crop of the semi-arid tropics and subtropics, where development

challenges are the greatest and market failure is most acute.

Two major project elements:

1. Enhance terminal drought tolerance in improved sorghum germplasm by evaluating combinations of staygreen genes.

2. Test relationships between drought tolerance and specific genes, gene families and functional SNPs.

Fig 1. Difference in green leaf area maintenance after flowering in two stay-green QTL introgression lines K 260 and K293 (Stg3 and Stg4, respectively, from donor B35 in background of highly senescent but elite post-rainy season variety R 16)

Field studies

Many, to isolate QTL, produce crosses, etc … most recently completed is .. Ninety-one (91) double-QTL introgression homozygotes, their single-QTL introgression parents, donor and recurrent parents, and a local check, Kapaala were evaluated under irrigated dry season and rain-fed conditions for their agronomic performance (Ghana).

CSP Sorghum

Resequencing

Resequencing – 30 genomes, 41 transcriptomes

Products, Partners, Capacity Building Stg lines – one and two-QTL combinations E36-1 x N13 RIL population 8 transcriptomes, associated SNPs, and inferred functional importance(s) -built on BTx623 genome sequence (2009, Nature), now being used to improve primary annotation along with … -33 more transcriptomes and 30 genomes from US DOE, including priority genotypes of many other GCP scientists and projects Many trainees at numerous levels