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Distribution of exocarp color, testa color and tannin content for Northern and Southern sorghum in Guiyang (20GY) and Ledong (20LD) environments in 2020. Color scale for EC is: 1 (white), 2 (wax), 3 (yellow), 4 (yellowish-brown), and 5 (reddish-brown). Color scale of MC and TC are: 1 (white), 2 (yellow), 3 (orange), 4 (yellowish-brown / red), and 5 (brown / purplish). The error bars represent standard deviation (color figure online)
Source publication
Key message
Seventy-three QTL related to grain color and tannin content were identified in Chinese sorghum accessions, and a new recessive allelic variant of TAN2 gene was discovered.
Abstract
Sorghum is mainly used for brewing distilled liquors in China. Since grain tannins play an important role in liquor brewing, accurately understanding the re...
Citations
... Besides this, specialized metabolites could also be evaluated to predict the testa thickness. For tannin-rich sorghum, for instance, varieties with thicker testa might have higher tannin content than those darker-pigmented, thinner testa (Zhang et al. 2023); the levels of phenolics and antioxidant activity are associated with thick and colored pericarp, and a pigmented testa related to S gene (Dykes et al. 2005). ...
Introduction
Pearl millet, dubbed a “Nutri-cereal”, has a high content of protein, starch, fiber, mineral and fatty acids. Its resilience in adverse agro-climatic conditions sets it apart from major cereals. Despite this, understanding how its genetic diversity affects physiological traits and metabolic responses remains limited. Predictive metabolomics, merging metabolomics with artificial intelligence, allows for the comprehensive top-down modelling —from phenotype to the mechanism— of various phenotypic traits.
Objectives
To discover predictive biomarkers for phenotypic traits in the Brazilian germplasm core collection of 203 genotypes of pearl millet through the combination of predictive metabolomics with machine learning.
Methods
Untargeted metabolomics was conducted using UHPLC-LTQ-Orbitrap-HRMS to obtain metabolite profiles, from the central and specialised metabolism of the pearl millet core collection. Generalised linear modelling with penalisation (GLMNET) was applied to explore the correlation between metabolism and phenotypic traits.
Results
Our model successfully predicted eight qualitative traits from the pearl millet core collection, with accuracy ranging between 74% and 87%. From, 834 potential unique biomarkers (575 annotated-ion features and 259 unknowns) have been annotated as top metabolic predictors. It is noteworthy that the majority of the top metabolic predictors were from the carbohydrate, amino acid, flavonoid, and terpene subclasses.
Conclusions
This is the first report on leveraging a germplasm bank of pearl millet for metabolome characterisation and subsequent predictive modelling of important agronomic traits. These outcomes hint at the robustness of employing GLMNET for predicting metabolic biomarkers crucial in selecting genotypes for future breeding programmes.
... However, companies that produce light-flavored Baijiu face several challenges, including low yield, limited high-end product options, declining quality, and a stagnant market due to a narrow flavor profile, which have hindered their development (Yifan et al., 2021). Currently, researchers are actively exploring methods to enhance their understanding of light-flavored Baijiu and improve its quality, with research focusing on aspects such as the microbial community structure in light-flavored Daqu, flavor chemistry of light-flavored Baijiu, influence of sorghum varieties on the flavor of light-flavored Baijiu, and the relationship between light-flavored Baijiu and microorganisms (Liu and Sun, 2018;Huang et al., 2020;Zhang et al., 2022;Xiang et al., 2023;Zhang et al., 2023). In addition, studies have examined the physicochemical properties of Chinese light-flavored Baijiu during storage and explored ways to improve sorghum varieties for Baijiu production (Ma et al., 2013;Kang et al., 2020). ...
Introduction
Proso millet, a high-quality fermentation material used for Chinese yellow wine production, can produce special flavored substances; however, its role in improving the flavor and altering microbial communities of light-flavored Baijiu during fermentation remain unknown. Thus, we aimed to investigate the effect of proso millet on improving the flavor of light-flavored Baijiu and altering microbial communities during different fermentation stages.
Methods
The dynamic changes in the microbial communities and flavor of proso millet (50%) + sorghum (50%) mixed fermentation samples were analyzed through intermittent sampling on days 7, 14, 21, and 28 of the fermentation process. Microbial high-throughput sequencing and the analysis of flavor characteristics were conducted through 16S DNA/ ITS amplicon sequencing and gas chromatography (multi-capillary column)-ion mobility spectrometry, respectively.
Results
Proso millet significantly changed the core flavor compound composition of traditional light-flavored Baijiu from ethyl acetate, ethyl hexanoate, ethyl hexanoate dimer, ethyl butanoate, ethyl lactate, and butyl acetate to oct-2-ene, 2-butanol, propyl propanoate, 2-pentenal, and 4-methylpentanal. The amplicon sequencing analysis revealed that the alpha diversity parameters of bacterial and fungal communities, including the Chao1, Pielou_e, Shannon, and Simpson indices, for proso millet–sorghum mixed fermentation samples were significantly higher than those for sorghum fermentation samples (p < 0.05). Of the 40 most significant microbial genera in two treatments, proso millet significantly increased the abundance of 12 bacterial and 18 fungal genera. Among the 40 most significant bacterial and fungal species, 23 bacterial species belonged to the Lactobacillus genus, whereas the 30 primary fungal species belonged to 28 different genera. The analysis of the relationship between microbial changes and the main flavor compounds of light-flavored Baijiu showed that bacteria from the Weissella, Acinetobacter, Bacteroides, Psychrobacter, Pseudarthrobacter, Lactococcus, Chloroplast, Saccharopolyspora, Psychrobacter, Saccharopolyspora, Pseudonocardiaceae, Bacteroides genera and fungi from the Thermoascus, Aspergillus, Pichia, Rhizomucor, Papiliotrema, Hyphopichia, and Mucor genera significantly inhibited the synthesis of ethyl hexanoate, ethyl butanoate, ethyl lactate ethyl lactate, and butyl acetate but increased the synthesis of ethyl acetate (p < 0.05). Moreover, these microbes exhibited a significantly greater abundance in proso millet–sorghum mixed fermentation samples than in sorghum samples. The synthesis of special flavored compounds in proso millet Baijiu was significantly positively correlated with the presence of fungi from the Rhizopus, Papiliotrema, Wickerhamomyces, Aspergillus, and Thermoascus genera but negative correlated with the presence of bacteria from the Weissella, Acinetobacter, Psychrobacter, Pseudarthrobacter, Bacteroides, and Saccharopolyspora genera. Regarding ethanol content, the low alcohol content of Fenjiu may be due to the significantly high abundance of fungi from the Psathyrella genus and bacteria from the Staphylococcus, Kroppenstedtia, Brevibacterium, and Acetobacter genera during fermentation. In summary, proso millet significantly altered the flavor of light-flavored Baijiu by inducing the formation of a special microbial community; however, it did not increase alcohol concentration.
Discussion
This study lays the foundation for future research on Baijiu fermentation. Additionally, the study findings may help improve the production efficiency and elevate the quality and flavor of the final product.
... Sakamoto et al. evaluated 329 sorghum germplasms from various origins and identified SNPs potentially associated with seed morphology, including SNP loci S01_50413644, S04_59021202, and S05_9112888 based on multi-traits GWAS [13]. Zhang et al. identified 73 quantitative trait loci (QTL) related to grain color and tannin content in Chinese sorghum accessions, and a new recessive allelic variant of Tannin2 was discovered [14]. A GWAS conducted on a diverse set of 635 Ethiopian sorghum accessions found variations in loci harboring seed protein genes involved in seed storage, late embryogenesis, and tannin biosynthesis, all of which are associated with sorghum grain mold resistance [15]. ...
Sorghum is considered the fifth most important crop in the world. Despite the potential value of Senegalese germplasm for various traits, such as resistance to fungal diseases, there is limited information on the study of sorghum seed morphology. In this study, 162 Senegalese germplasms were evaluated for seed area size, length, width, length-to-width ratio, perimeter, circularity, the distance between the intersection of length & width (IS) and center of gravity (CG), and seed darkness and brightness by scanning and analyzing morphology-related traits with SmartGrain software at the USDA-ARS Plant Science Research Unit. Correlations between seed morphology-related traits and traits associated with anthracnose and head smut resistance were analyzed. Lastly, genome-wide association studies were performed on phenotypic data collected from over 16,000 seeds and 193,727 publicly available single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). Several significant SNPs were found and mapped to the reference sorghum genome to uncover multiple candidate genes potentially associated with seed morphology. The results indicate clear correlations among seed morphology-related traits and potential associations between seed morphology and the defense response of sorghum. GWAS analysis listed candidate genes associated with seed morphologies that can be used for sorghum breeding in the future.
The OVATE gene family plays an important role in regulating the development of plant organs and resisting stress, but its expression characteristics and functions in sorghum have not been revealed. In this study, we identified 26 OVATE genes in the sorghum BTx623 genome, which were divided into four groups and distributed unevenly across 9 chromosomes. Evolutionary analysis showed that after differentiation between sorghum and Arabidopsis , the OVATE gene family may have experienced unique expansion events, and all OVATE family members were negatively selected. Transcriptome sequencing and RT-qPCR results showed that OVATE genes in sorghum showed diverse expression characteristics, such as gene SORBl_3001G468900 and SORBl_3009G173400 were significantly expressed in seeds, while SORBI_3005G042700 and SORBI_3002G417700 were only highly expressed in L1. Meantime, in the promoter region, a large number of hormone-associated cis-acting elements were identified, and these results suggest that members of the OVATE gene family may be involved in regulating specific development of sorghum leaves and seeds. This study improves the understanding of the OVATE gene family of sorghum and provides important clues for further exploration of the function of the OVATE gene family.
