Transcriptome and metabolome analyses reveal regulatory networks associated with nutrition synthesis in sorghum seeds

Cereal seeds store essential nutrients and are critical for food, feed, and sustainability. To improve sorghum grain yield and quality, the study profiled spatiotemporal transcriptomes and metabolomes during seed development in the reference inbred line BTx623. Morphological and molecular analyses defined key maturation stages, with starch biosynthesis onset at 5 days post-anthesis (dpa) and protein accumulation beginning at 10 dpa. Transcriptome profiling (1–25 dpa) revealed dynamic shifts from cellular growth and embryo development (1–5 dpa) to cell division, fatty acid biosynthesis (5–25 dpa), and synthesis of seed storage compounds in the endosperm (5–25 dpa). Network analysis identified 361 and 207 hub genes associated with starch and protein (kafirin) synthesis in the endosperm, respectively. These data establish a baseline in the sorghum reference genome for future work incorporating pangenomic variation relevant to functional food traits.