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Yang L, Zhou Q, Sheng X, Chen X, Hua Y, Lin S, Luo Q, Yu B, Shao T, Wu Y, Chang J, Li Y, Tu M. Harnessing the Genetic Basis of Sorghum Biomass-Related Traits to Facilitate Bioenergy Applications. Int J Mol Sci 2023; 24:14549. [PMID: 37833996 PMCID: PMC10573072 DOI: 10.3390/ijms241914549] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/17/2023] [Revised: 09/18/2023] [Accepted: 09/21/2023] [Indexed: 10/15/2023] Open
Abstract
The extensive use of fossil fuels and global climate change have raised ever-increasing attention to sustainable development, global food security and the replacement of fossil fuels by renewable energy. Several C4 monocot grasses have excellent photosynthetic ability, stress tolerance and may rapidly produce biomass in marginal lands with low agronomic inputs, thus representing an important source of bioenergy. Among these grasses, Sorghum bicolor has been recognized as not only a promising bioenergy crop but also a research model due to its diploidy, simple genome, genetic diversity and clear orthologous relationship with other grass genomes, allowing sorghum research to be easily translated to other grasses. Although sorghum molecular genetic studies have lagged far behind those of major crops (e.g., rice and maize), recent advances have been made in a number of biomass-related traits to dissect the genetic loci and candidate genes, and to discover the functions of key genes. However, molecular and/or targeted breeding toward biomass-related traits in sorghum have not fully benefited from these pieces of genetic knowledge. Thus, to facilitate the breeding and bioenergy applications of sorghum, this perspective summarizes the bioenergy applications of different types of sorghum and outlines the genetic control of the biomass-related traits, ranging from flowering/maturity, plant height, internode morphological traits and metabolic compositions. In particular, we describe the dynamic changes of carbohydrate metabolism in sorghum internodes and highlight the molecular regulators involved in the different stages of internode carbohydrate metabolism, which affects the bioenergy utilization of sorghum biomass. We argue the way forward is to further enhance our understanding of the genetic mechanisms of these biomass-related traits with new technologies, which will lead to future directions toward tailored designing sorghum biomass traits suitable for different bioenergy applications.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lin Yang
- School of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Wuhan Polytechnic University, Wuhan 430023, China (Y.W.)
| | - Qin Zhou
- School of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Wuhan Polytechnic University, Wuhan 430023, China (Y.W.)
| | - Xuan Sheng
- School of Life Science and Technology, Wuhan Polytechnic University, Wuhan 430023, China
| | - Xiangqian Chen
- School of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Wuhan Polytechnic University, Wuhan 430023, China (Y.W.)
| | - Yuqing Hua
- School of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Wuhan Polytechnic University, Wuhan 430023, China (Y.W.)
| | - Shuang Lin
- School of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Wuhan Polytechnic University, Wuhan 430023, China (Y.W.)
| | - Qiyun Luo
- School of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Wuhan Polytechnic University, Wuhan 430023, China (Y.W.)
| | - Boju Yu
- The Genetic Engineering International Cooperation Base of Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology, The Key Laboratory of Molecular Biophysics of Chinese Ministry of Education, College of Life Science and Technology, Huazhong University of Science & Technology, Wuhan 430074, China; (B.Y.); (T.S.); (J.C.)
| | - Ti Shao
- The Genetic Engineering International Cooperation Base of Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology, The Key Laboratory of Molecular Biophysics of Chinese Ministry of Education, College of Life Science and Technology, Huazhong University of Science & Technology, Wuhan 430074, China; (B.Y.); (T.S.); (J.C.)
| | - Yixiao Wu
- School of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Wuhan Polytechnic University, Wuhan 430023, China (Y.W.)
| | - Junli Chang
- The Genetic Engineering International Cooperation Base of Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology, The Key Laboratory of Molecular Biophysics of Chinese Ministry of Education, College of Life Science and Technology, Huazhong University of Science & Technology, Wuhan 430074, China; (B.Y.); (T.S.); (J.C.)
| | - Yin Li
- The Genetic Engineering International Cooperation Base of Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology, The Key Laboratory of Molecular Biophysics of Chinese Ministry of Education, College of Life Science and Technology, Huazhong University of Science & Technology, Wuhan 430074, China; (B.Y.); (T.S.); (J.C.)
| | - Min Tu
- School of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Wuhan Polytechnic University, Wuhan 430023, China (Y.W.)
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