[Characterization of Sequences, Expression Profiling, and Natural Allelic Variation Analysis of the Gene Family in Sorghum ()]

Sorghum aphid () and head smut fungi () infesting sorghum cause delayed growth and development, and reduce yield and quality. This study use bioinformatics and molecular biological approaches to profile the gene expression pattern during sorghum development and under pest infestation, and analyzed the natural allelic DNA variation of sorghum gene family. The findings provide insights for potential application in breeding the stress resistant and high productivity sorghum varieties. The results indicated that there are 28 genes identified in sorghum genome, distributed on 10 chromosomes. The bHLH_MYC_N and HLH domains are the conserved domains of the gene in sorghum. Gene expression analysis showed that . exhibited high expression levels in leaves, showed strong expression in early grains, and . showed high expression levels in mature pollen. In anti-aphid strains at the 5-leaf stage, , . and . were significantly induced in leaves, while . displayed the highest expression level in panicle tissue, which was significantly induced by the infection of head smut. Promoter -element analysis identified methyl jasmonate (MJ), abscisic acid (ABA), salicylic acid (SA) and MYB-binding sites related to drought-stress inducibility. Furthermore, genomic resequencing data analysis revealed natural allelic DNA variations such as single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) and insertion-deletion (INDEL) for the key . Protein interaction network analysis using STRING indicated that SbAbaIn interacts with TIFYdomain protein, and SbbHLH35.7g interacts with MDR and imporin. exhibited temporal and spatial expression patterns and played vital roles during the sorghum development. Infestation by sugarcane aphids and head smut fungi induced the expression of and ., respectively. modulated the jasmonic acid (JA) pathway to regulate the expression of defensive genes, conferring resistance to insects. On the other hand, . participated in detoxification reactions to defend against pathogens.