Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L. Moench) adapts well to drought and heat and that makes it a sustainable crop to support human and animal feeds in areas with high heat and low precipitation. Sorghum has been considered an important feedstock for bioenergy. It is second to maize within the US as a feedstock for ethanol production.

With a complete 750 Mb sequence for multiple sorghum genotypes coupled with a wealth of transcriptomic data and genomics tools offer great potential to improve sorghum genetics. Specific expression or knockout of targeted genes represents a powerful tool to study gene function and to broaden the germplasm for plant improvement through genetic engineering.

Our service generates transgenic sorghum plants using Agrobacterium-mediated transformation. The method we use has been reported to generate transgenic sorghum with low copy number of the transgenes and better integration to the active genome sites (Howe et al. 2006). With this protocol, we have successfully delivered long cargos of TDNA to express routinely 2-7 gene cassettes for oil improvement in sorghum. Our transformation protocol has delivered genome editing CRISPR agents with guide multiplexing on the genome with good efficiency.

Please contact us for details of genetic designs and sorghum transformation or genome editing. We are offering introductory competitive pricing to new customers.

  • Current genotypes offered: TX430, Ramada, Rio
  • Time to plantlet delivery (from starting of transformation experiment): 3-4 months
  • Events to deliver: 6-10
  • Price for TX430 for the customers start the work in 2025: $3,000

For genome editing. We are currently working with UNL innovation campus to rent greenhouse space. We expect to offer the service in 2026 to provide edited plants to customers.

For the service charge, we offer competitive pricing, and we have a low introductory rate for spring canola. Please refer to the pricing page for more information. For customers who request a greater number of events (more than 10), long TDNA or larger number of vectors, please contact us to discuss discounts or additional service charges.

References

Howe, A., Sato, S., Dweikat, I., Fromm, M. and Clemente, T., 2006. Rapid and reproducible Agrobacterium-mediated transformation of sorghum. Plant Cell Reports, 25, pp.784-791.