Transcript profiles of wild and domesticated sorghum under water-stressed conditions and the differential impact on dhurrin metabolism.

Australian native species of sorghum contain negligible amounts of dhurrin in their leaves and the cyanogenesis process is regulated differently under water-stress in comparison to domesticated sorghum species. Cyanogenesis in forage sorghum is a major concern in agriculture as the leaves of domesticated sorghum are potentially toxic to livestock, especially at times of drought which induces increased production of the cyanogenic glucoside dhurrin. The wild sorghum species endemic to Australia have a negligible content of dhurrin in the above ground tissues and thus represent a potential resource for key agricultural traits like low toxicity.

Wild Sorghum as a Promising Resource for Crop Improvement.

(L.) Moench is a multipurpose food crop which is ranked among the top five cereal crops in the world, and is used as a source of food, fodder, feed, and fuel. The genus consists of 24 diverse species.