title: Allelic variation at a single gene increases food value in a drought-tolerant staple cereal.
abstract: The production of adequate agricultural outputs to support the growing human population places great demands on agriculture, especially in light of ever-greater restrictions on input resources. Sorghum is a drought-adapted cereal capable of reliable production where other cereals fail, and thus represents a good candidate to address food security as agricultural inputs of water and arable land grow scarce. A long-standing issue with sorghum grain is that it has an inherently lower digestibility. Here we show that a low-frequency allele type in the starch metabolic gene, pullulanase, is associated with increased digestibility, regardless of genotypic background. We also provide evidence that the beneficial allele type is not associated with deleterious pleiotropic effects in the modern field environment. We argue that increasing the digestibility of an adapted crop is a viable way forward towards addressing food security while maximizing water and land-use efficiency.
authors: School of Agriculture and Food Sciences, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland 4072, Australia.
authors: Edward K
authors: EK
authors: Gilding
authors: Celine H
authors: CH
authors: Frère
authors: Alan
authors: A
authors: Cruickshank
authors: Anna K
authors: AK
authors: Rada
authors: Peter J
authors: PJ
authors: Prentis
authors: Agnieszka M
authors: AM
authors: Mudge
authors: Emma S
authors: ES
authors: Mace
authors: David R
authors: DR
authors: Jordan
authors: Ian D
authors: ID
authors: Godwin
mesh_terms: D000222:Adaptation, Physiological / Q000235:genetics*; D000483:Alleles; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D055864:Droughts; D002523:Edible Grain / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D005523:Food Supply; D005787:Gene Frequency / Q000235:genetics; D017343:Genes, Plant / Q000235:genetics*; D014644:Genetic Variation; D005838:Genotype; D006026:Glycoside Hydrolases / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D007178:Inbreeding; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009154:Mutation / Q000235:genetics; D010455:Peptides / Q000737:chemistry; D010641:Phenotype; D017434:Protein Structure, Tertiary; D045868:Sorghum / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D010455:Peptides; D006026:Glycoside Hydrolases; C100181:pullulanase
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