Harnessing asexual seed formation to save hybrid seed, and fix complex traits in sorghum

Abstract:

Sorghum and the legume cowpea were domesticated in Africa. They are subsistence crops for smallholder farmers. Access to high yielding, quality seed is essential for smallholder income. Hybrids provide higher seed yields and are often more disease resistant. However, hybrid seed can’t be saved and seed needs to be remade each year. Sexual reproduction drives trait segregation and breaks up the yield charateristics. Hybrid seed is technically difficult to produce thus costs are out of reach for smallholders. Hy-Gain, a project funded in part by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation aims to deploy apomixis or asexual seed formation technologies so hybrid seed can be saved. This could be deployed to speeding delivery of new varieties. This talk focuses on progress made to induce synthetic apomixis in sorghum in a prior project phase called Capturing Heterosis and will highlight partners and forward work in Hy-Gain.