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About Sorghum bicolor BTx623 v5.1 (JGI)

Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench subsp. bicolor, is a widely grown cereal crop, particularly in Africa, ranking 5th in global cereal production (FAOSTAT 2008; http://www.fao.org/in-action/inpho/crop-compendium/cereals-grains/). It is a C4 grass also used for sugar production, brewing, feedstock, and as a biofuel crop. Its diploid genome (~730 Mbp) has a haploid chromosome number of 10. The inbred variety ‘BTx623’ is the current reference genome for sorghum. It has short stature and an early maturing genotype used primarily to produce grain sorghum hybrids. It is a line susceptible to sugarcane aphid and sensitive to low nitrogen, and therefore often used in functional comparative studies. It is used as a biofuel crop and potential cellulosic feedstock.

The Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute (JGI)'s Sorghum bicolor BTx623 assembly version 5.1 is a wholly resequenced genome applying PacBio long-read data. The annotation is an update that uses all the v3.1 resources, but with additional RNA-seq from JGI projects and full-length transcripts included to further improve the completeness of the gene set. Additional details in JGI Phytozome.

The v5.1 assembly was released before scientific publication according to the Fort Lauderdale Accord. The accord restricts publication of articles containing analyses of genes or genomic data on this chromosome-scale assembly prior to publication of a comprehensive genome analysis by JGI and/or its collaborators. Therefore, we are only providing a basic genome browser for the new v5.1 assembly.