Breakthrough Genome Sequencing of a Major Biofuel Plant
By R. Brown, Web Exclusive Posted Feb. 2, 2009
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) recently reported the publication of the complete genome sequence of sorghum, a major food and fodder plant with high potential for use in the production of biofuels. The publication appears in the January 29th edition of the journal Nature. Research leading to this publication was initiated in 2005 and headed by the DOE’s Joint Genome Institute (JGI) Community Sequencing Program (CSP) and other partner research institutions.
Sorghum posses several advantages over corn as biofuel feedstock; some of which include its ability to thrive in marginally fertile soil and its low water requirement; it uses a third less water than corn. In addition, Sorghum outgrows corn with an average height of 8 to 15 feet in a single growing season thus making it a desirable feedstock for the production of cellulosic ethanol. Also, Sorghum avoids the food vs. fuel debate which has plagued corn-biofuels for several years now.
Unlike animal genome, plant genome pose significant challenges to complete sequencing due to large section of repetitive sequences. The newly sequenced sorghum is expected to serve as a template for comparison to other biofuel feedstock plants such switchgrass, Miscanthus, and sugarcane-all of which have not yet been sequenced.
For the DOE news article, click here