1. Plant Genome Mapping Laboratory, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia 30602, USA
2. Waksman Institute for Microbiology, Rutgers University, Piscataway, New Jersey 08854, USA
3. DOE Joint Genome Institute, Walnut Creek, California 94598, USA
4. Stanford Human Genome Center, Stanford University, Palo Alto, California 94304, USA
5. MIPS/IBIS, Helmholtz Zentrum München, Inglostaedter Landstrasse 1, 85764 Neuherberg, Germany
6. Center for Integrative Genomics, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, USA
7. College of Sciences, Hebei Polytechnic University, Tangshan, Hebei 063000, China
8. Institute of Plant Biology, University of Zurich, Zollikerstrasse 107, 8008 Zurich, Switzerland
9. Department of Genetics and Biochemistry, Clemson University, Clemson, South Carolina 29631, USA
10. Institut fur Entwicklungs und Molekularbiologie der Pflanzen, Heinrich-Heine-Universitat, Universitatsstrasse 1, D-40225 Dusseldorf, Germany
11. Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, USA
12. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, New York 11724, USA
13. Department of Biological Sciences,
14. Department of Botany and Plant Pathology, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana 47907, USA
15. International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), Patancheru 502 324, India
16. Department of Horticulture and Institute for Plant Genomics and Biotechnology, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas 77843, USA
17. Institute for Genomic Diversity, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853, USA
18. Department of Plant Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois 61801, USA
19. Mississippi Genome Exploration Laboratory, Mississippi State University, Starkville, Mississippi 39762, USA
20. National Institute for Biotechnology & Genetic Engineering (NIBGE), Faisalabad, Pakistan
21. USDA NAA Robert Holley Center for Agriculture and Health, Ithaca, New York 14853, USA

Correspondence to: Andrew H. Paterson¹ Correspondence and requests for materials should be addressed to A.H.P. (Email: paterson@uga.edu).

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Abstract

Sorghum, an African grass related to sugar cane and maize, is grown for food, feed, fibre and fuel. We present an initial analysis of the 730-megabase Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench genome, placing 98% of genes in their chromosomal context using whole-genome shotgun sequence validated by genetic, physical and syntenic information. Genetic recombination is largely confined to about one-third of the sorghum genome with gene order and density similar to those of rice. Retrotransposon accumulation in recombinationally recalcitrant heterochromatin explains the 75% larger genome size of sorghum compared with rice. Although gene and repetitive DNA distributions have been preserved since palaeopolyploidization 70 million years ago, most duplicated gene sets lost one member before the sorghum–rice divergence. Concerted evolution makes one duplicated chromosomal segment appear to be only a few million years old. About 24% of genes are grass-specific and 7% are sorghum-specific. Recent gene and microRNA duplications may contribute to sorghum's drought tolerance.

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