Research groups such as the University of Tokyo have succeeded in isolating the dry sex-determining gene of sorghum, one of the world's five largest grains, for the first time in the world.It is expected to help improve the efficiency of breeding in various sugar and energy crops.The research group includes the Agricultural and Food Industry Technology Research Organization, Nagoya University, National Institute of Genetics, Basic Biology Research Institute, Earth Note Co., Ltd., Shinshu University, etc.
Sorgham is an annual grass of the Gramineae family native to tropical Africa and is considered to be one of the five largest grains in the world.It has high potential as a sugar-making and energy crop.One of the traits that influences the production efficiency of sugar and ethanol from the stalk juice is known to be "dry juice" defined by the water content of the stalk.Dry juice was predicted to be a trait controlled by a single gene for about 100 years, but its substance was unknown.
Therefore, as a result of trying to identify the gene and elucidate its function, the research group discovered the gene that determines the dryness of sorghum and located it on the chromosome.In addition, in the "stem parenchyma", which is one of the main tissues of the stem and plays a role of storing water and nutrients, large-scale programmed cell death (active cell death by genetic control) that causes a decrease in stem water content. ) Was found to play an important role in the development of this gene.
Increasing the water content of stems in sugar-producing and energy crops leads to improvements in the production volume and production efficiency of stem juice.On the other hand, reducing the water content of the stems is said to be advantageous for improving the productivity of wood pellets for feed and fuel made from them.The results of this research are expected to pave the way for efficient breeding of sugar and ethanol production crops and the development of new resource crops, targeting the regulation of dry juice sex-determining gene functions.
