The Saccharinae clade of the Poaceae (grass) family of flowering
plants includes several important crops with a rich history of
contributions to humanity and the promise of still-greater
contributions, as a result of some of the highest biomass
productivity levels known, resilience to drought and other
environmental challenges that are likely to increase, amenability
to production systems that may mitigate or even reverse losses of
ecological capital such as topsoil erosion, and the recent
blossoming of sorghum as a botanical and genomic model for the
clade.
In "Genomics of the Saccharinae," advances of the past decade
and earlier are summarized and synthesized to elucidate the current
state of knowledge of the structure, function, and evolution of the
Sorghum, Saccharum, and Miscanthus genera, and progress in the
application of this knowledge to crop improvement. As a backdrop,
it is important to understand the naturally occurring diversity in
each genus, its organization and distribution, and its evolutionary
history. Genomic tools and methods for Saccharinae biology and
improvement have improved dramatically in the past few years a
detailed summary of these tools and their applications is a central
element of this book. Application of genomic tools to priorities in
crop improvement, including understanding and manipulating plant
growth and development, composition, and defense, as well as
increasing the quality and productivity of seed/grain, sugar,
biomass, and other value-added products under a range of conditions
and inputs, are addressed. In particular, as the first native
African crop to emerge as a genomic model, sorghum offers an
excellent case study of challenges and opportunities in linking new
advances in biosciences to solving some of Africa s major
agricultural problems. Several members of the clade, exemplified by
"Sorghum halepense" (Johnsongrass) offer insights into weediness
and invasion biology. The first sequence for a member of the clade,
sorghum, as well as progress and challenges toward sequencing of
additional members and the new opportunities that this will create,
are also explored. Indeed, the very complexities that have hindered
study of some clade members also offer intriguing opportunities to
gain insight into fundamental questions such as roles of polyploidy
in agricultural productivity and post-polyploidy evolution. "
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