Novel allelic variations in and contribute to tannin absence in sorghum.

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Sorghum is an important food crop commonly used for brewing, feed, and bioenergy. Certain genotypes of sorghum contain high concentrations of condensed tannins in seeds, which are beneficial, such as protecting grains from herbivore bird pests, but also impair grain quality and digestibility. Previously, we identified and , each with three recessive causal alleles, regulate tannin absence in sorghum. In this study, via characterizing 421 sorghum accessions, we further identified three novel recessive alleles from these two genes. The allele contains a 12-bp deletion at position 659 nt and the  allele contains a 10-bp deletion at position 771 nt in . The allele contains a C-to-T transition, which results in a premature stop codon before the bHLH domain in , and was predominantly selected in China. We further developed KASP assays targeting these identified recessive alleles to efficiently genotype large populations. These studies provide new insights in sorghum domestication and convenient tools for breeding programs.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11032-024-01463-y.