The Sorghum Lipid Database (SoLD): population-scale lipidomics linking environmental and genetic variation in the Sorghum Association Panel
Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Abstract: ABSTRACT Sorghum ( Sorghum bicolor ) is a climate-resilient crop whose acclimation to nutrient limitation and low temperature likely involves extensive lipidome reconfiguration. Lipids are key membrane components, carbon and energy stores, and mediators of stress signaling, yet population-scale lipidomics data for sorghum are limited. We present the Sorghum Lipid Database (SoLD), a curated lipidomics resource from the Sorghum Association Panel grown under two field regimes, (i) a nutrient-sufficient with usual planting date environment (control) and (ii) a low input treatment with reduced nitrogen and phosphorus, earlier planting, and no pesticide application (low input). Using high-resolution LC–MS, we quantified 266 lipid species and found the lipidome broadly similar across trials, with four low-input-associated signatures relative to control, (i) depletion of sulfoquinovosyldiacylglycerol, (ii) triacylglycerol enrichment, (iii) phospholipid redistribution centered on phosphatidylserine, and (iv) a shift in the lysophosphatidylcholine-to-lysophosphatidylethanolamine ratio. Genomic heritability was zero at the median under control against 0.171 under low input, and more of the lipidome could be mapped under low input. GWAS of lipid species, class sums, and class ratios recovered loci that were largely trial-specific, with candidate genes assigned by linkage disequilibrium and prioritized by LD-aware ontology enrichment and reaction mapping. Control-associated loci yielded twenty enriched gene sets, all confined to triacylglycerol traits and led by cutin biosynthesis, whereas low-input-associated loci yielded fifty-one across five lipid classes, centered on nutrient transport and signaling, cold-responsive regulators, and jasmonate and oxylipin genes, and including a chromosome 3 block carrying two LOW PHOSPHATE ROOT homologues. SoLD thus connects sorghum lipid diversity to environmental and genetic variation, and lets users move from lipid class to individual species and associated candidate loci. It is freely accessible at https://nirwan.shinyapps.io/SAP-Lipidomics-Database/ .
Language: English
Subfield: Biochemistry
Domain: Life Sciences
SDG: Zero hunger
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7163756386