The unlocking of the sequence of the genome will allow experts to enhance and capitalize on sorghum’s potential not only as food or feed but as well as a source of biofuel.

Sorghum is next to corn as an excellent source of biofuel in the United States. The viability of sorghum is attributed to its resistance to drought and high productivity. One bushel of sorghum produces the same amount of biofuel as corn but requiring less water in the process.

Experts foresee the higher demand for sorghum as development of cellulosic biofuel production moves forward.

Sorghum is only the second grass genome that was completely sequenced to date after rice. Its structure is composed of 730 million nucleotides and is larger by as much as 75% than rice.

The unlocking of the genome of the sorghum may lead to the sequencing of other plants which may also have a high potential to be bioenergy crops.

The platform of the study was based on the Human Genome Project which used the genome shotgun methodology. The specimen is treated by looking at short DNA segments which are partly sequenced and with the aid of very powerful computers these are reconstructed to form the original sequence.

The amount of mathematical problems to solve due to the length and repletion of the soghum genome was the primary hurdle of the study — but the hard work done to complete it might lead to new alternative fuels, and that’s worth every single penny invested, in my opinion!