High-precision mapping of green millet (Setaria viridis)

October 6, 2020

Accelerating breeding of crops in subfamily Panicoideae

An international collaborative research group including RIKEN CSRS conducted high-precision genome sequencing of green millet(Setaria viridis), a C4 photosynthesis model plant in the subfamily Panicoideae, and developed genome resources that can be used to identify useful trait loci.
The group worked on the reference genome sequences of green millet (Setaria viridis), a wild species closely related to foxtail millet (Setaria itarica), with high accuracy, and determined the sequence assemblies for 598 wild accessions. Utilizing these assemblies, the group identified loci regulating agriculturally important traits including seed shattering and leaf angles.

The results of this study are expected to accelerate the improvement of Panicoid crops, such as maize, sorghum, and sugarcane, through identification of useful loci and genomic breeding, as well as studies of C4 photosynthesis.

Original article

Nature Biotechnology doi:10.1038/s41587-020-0681-2

S. Mamidi, A. Healey, P. Huang, J. Grimwood, J. Jenkins, K. Barry, A. Sreedasyam, S. Shu, J. Lovell, M. Feldman, J. Wu, Y. Yu, C. Chen, J. Johnson, H. Sakakibara, T. Kiba, T. Sakurai, R. Tavares, D. A. Nusinow, I. Baxter, J. Schmutz, T. P. Brutnell, E. A. Kellogg,

"A genome resource for green millet Setaria viridis enables discovery of agronomically valuable loci".

Contact

Hitoshi Sakakibara; Senior Visiting Scientist

Tetsuya Sakurai; Senior Visiting Scientist

Mass Spectrometry and Microscopy Unit

Takatoshi Kiba; Visiting Scientist

Synthetic Genomics Research Group