The 2026 Maize Genetics meeting, hosted by the Maize Genetics Cooperation, will take place from February 26 to March 1 in Cologne, Germany. The meeting will include invited talks in genetics and plant biology, sessions covering broad subject areas to stimulate new ideas, oral presentation, poster sessions and networking opportunities.
The Center for Sorghum Improvement (CSI) will host a virtual seminar by Dr. Daran Rudnick, Professor and Director of Sustainable Irrigation in the Carl and Melinda Helwig Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering at Kansas State University Research and Extension, on Tuesday, December 8 at 11:00 AM CT. His talk is titled, “Connecting Sorghum Production to Groundwater Outcomes: Perspectives from TAPS.”
This August, I had the honor of representing the AgBioData Single-Cell Biocuration Working Group at the Gordon Research Conference on “Single-Cell Approaches in Plant Biology” in Portland, Maine. Thanks to the AgBioData Ambassador Award, I joined an incredible community of researchers from August 10-15 to explore how we are revolutionizing plant science by zooming in to the cellular level. Single-cell technologies let us see what individual cells are doing, and the insights are transforming everything from basic biology to crop development.
This study identifies and validates new stable dw3 dwarfing alleles using sorghum pangenome data to improve genetic diversity and eliminate height revertants in U.S. grain sorghum breeding.
Research reveals that drought stress disrupts photosynthesis by down-regulating key genes in C3 (wheat) and C4 (sorghum) plants, with wheat exhibiting greater susceptibility, highlighting potential genetic targets for improving drought tolerance in crops.
The MGS1 gene in sorghum, encoding a MIKC-type MADS-box transcription factor, regulates the multiple-grain spikelet (MGS) trait, with natural mutations like mgs19E and mgs1BA45 significantly increasing grain yield by producing adjacent double-pistil primordia.
Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) has long played a central role in the production of fermented beverages across continents, from West African dolo and pito to Chinese baijiu and emerging gluten-free craft beers in the West. A wave of recent research is shedding light on how sorghum’s grain properties, microbial interactions during fermentation, and genetic diversity influence the quality and sustainability of these beverages.
In recent years, sorghum has gained increasing attention not just as a climate-resilient staple crop, but also as a source of high-value bioactive compounds with applications beyond the food and feed sectors. A growing body of research highlights the potential of sorghum storage proteins—particularly kafirins—as a sustainable source of antioxidant peptides and cosmeceutical ingredients.
As interest grows in sustainable, plant-based alternatives to synthetic materials, sorghum’s seed storage protein, kafirin, is gaining recognition not just for its agronomic relevance but also for its remarkable biomaterial properties. Once considered a low-value byproduct of sorghum processing, kafirin is now being explored as a key ingredient in high-performance bioplastics, nanomaterials, and drug delivery systems.
Search for genes by id, name, pathway, domain, or ontology term
Genome browser powered by Ensembl
Search by sequence
