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ARS Home » Plains Area » College Station, Texas » Southern Plains Agricultural Research Center » Crop Germplasm Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #360823
Research Project: Identification of Resistance in Sorghum to Fungal Pathogens and Characterization of Pathogen Population Structure

Location: Crop Germplasm Research

Title: Genome wide association analysis of sorghum mini core lines regarding anthracnose, downy mildew, and head smut

Author
item AHN, EZEKIEL - Texas A&M University
item HU, ZHENBIN - Kansas State University
item PERUMAL, RAMASAMY - Kansas State University
item Prom, Louis
item ODVODY, GARY - Texas A&M University
item UPADHYAYA, HARI - International Crops Research Institute For Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) - India
item MAGILL, CLINT - Texas A&M University

Submitted to: PLOS ONE
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/26/2019
Publication Date: 5/14/2019
Citation: Ahn, E., Hu, Z., Perumal, R., Prom, L.K., Odvody, G., Upadhyaya, H., Magill, C. 2019. Genome wide association analysis of sorghum mini core lines regarding anthracnose, downy mildew, and head smut. PLoS One. 14(5):e0216671. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0216671.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0216671

Interpretive Summary: Anthracnose, downy mildew, and head smut are important fungal diseases of sorghum. These fungi attack both the leaves and panicles and can cause significant yield losses. To determine which genes contribute to resistance to these disease, mini-core lines from India were screened over the years and the data were subjected to genome wide association analysis. The results showed that the top scoring single nucleotide polymorphic loci were mapped to the most recent version of the published sorghum genome, in each case, a nearby and most often the closest noted gene(s) play some role in host defense against these fungi. This work is significant because it suggests that these genes could be used in breeding more stable resistant sorghum lines.

Technical Abstract: In previous studies, a sorghum mini core collection was scored over several years for response to Colletotrichum sublineola, Peronosclerospora sorghi, and Sporisorium reilianum, the causal agents of the disease anthracnose, downy mildew, and head smut, respectively. The screening results were combined with over 290,000 Single nucleotide polymorphic (SNP) loci from an updated version of a publicly available genotype by sequencing (GBS) dataset available for the mini core collection. GAPIT (Genome Association and Prediction Integrated Tool) R package was used to identify chromosomal locations that differ in disease response. When the top scoring SNPs were mapped to the most recent version of the published sorghum genome, in each case, a nearby and most often the closest annotated gene has precedence for a role in host defense.