St. Louis, Missouri, USA
March 11, 2026
Danforth Center scientists help reveal hidden structural variation tied to domestication, drought adaptation, and a key defense compound
A team of international scientists, including researchers at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, has published a major advance in sorghum genomics in Nature: a powerful new resource designed to speed discovery of traits that help crops thrive under heat, drought, and highly variable growing conditions.
Sorghum is one of the world's most climate-resilient staple crops, relied upon by millions of people in regions where rainfall is unpredictable and farm inputs are limited. But traditional genomics relies on a single "reference" genome, which can miss large DNA differences that influence how plants grow, yield, and respond to stress. To address that gap, the research team built a sorghum pangenome — a collection of 33 genome sequences paired with whole-genome resequencing of 1,984 cultivars and landraces — capturing a far broader view of genetic diversity across the species. The team also produced a more complete and accurate reference map for sorghum DNA, closing gaps that can affect gene mapping and trait discovery.
Using these new resources, the researchers made several key discoveries: uncovering major DNA differences in a domestication gene linked to seed shattering; tracing how gene flow shaped the genetic diversity seen in modern breeding programs; connecting large-scale genomic variation to differences in dhurrin, a natural defense compound with potential links to drought performance; and demonstrating a scalable approach called k-mer-based genotyping to identify complex variants across large populations.
From left: Lab manager Jocelyn Saxton, Dr. Boubacar Gano, and Dr. Nadia Shakoor, Danforth Center principal investigator, examine sorghum in the Danforth Center greenhouse.
"Breeding progress depends on finding the variants that matter — and finding them across the breadth of genetic diversity in sorghum," said Nadia Shakoor, PhD, Danforth Center principal investigator and a corresponding senior author. "A single reference genome can't capture the structural variation that often drives agronomic traits in a globally diverse crop like sorghum. This pangenome turns that hidden diversity into something researchers and breeders can actually detect, compare, and carry forward — so discovery translates faster into breeding decisions and field performance."
This work was completed through a collaboration spanning multiple international institutions, including key contributions led in Danforth Center laboratories of the late Todd Mockler, PhD, and Nadia Shakoor, PhD. Additional Danforth Center authors include Erica Agnew, Ivan Baxter, Nathaniel Eck, Andrea Eveland, Boubacar Gano, Marie de Gracia Coquerel, and Jocelyn Saxton.
A representation of the genetic diversity of sorghum. Photo by Nadia Shakoor.
As weather becomes more extreme and resources more constrained, breeders need faster ways to find the genetic variants that influence how crops handle heat, drought, pests, and shifting growing conditions. Many of those variants are large-scale DNA differences that standard approaches miss when relying on a single reference genome. This pangenome — paired with a global resequencing panel — gives researchers a broader, more actionable view of sorghum's genetic diversity, helping move promising discoveries into breeding programs faster.
"Behind every dataset and every genome is a simple goal: help farmers grow food in a harder, hotter, less predictable world," said Giles Oldroyd, PhD, President of the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center. "This pangenome is a better map of sorghum's natural diversity — and better maps help us move faster from discovery to crops that perform in real fields, for real people."
Citation
Morris, G. P., Harder, A. M., Healey, A. L., McLaughlin, C. M., Rifkin, J. L., Cruet-Burgos, C., … Shakoor, N., & Lovell, J. T. (2026). A sorghum pangenome reference improves global crop trait discovery. Nature. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-026-10229-9
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