Sorghum MAGIC population raw reads sequence

MAGIC populations are powerful next-generation mapping resources, derived from multiple generations of random mating in a carefully constructed large base population, that affect recombination and high genetic variability. We describe here the mating design and structure of the first MAGIC population in sorghum and test its utility for mapping plant height genes. The population was developed by intercrossing 19 diverse founder lines of sorghum, through a process involving a series of paired crosses of each of the founder lines with a genetic male sterile source, followed by 10 generations of random mating. At the final stage of random mating, one thousand random fertile plants in the population were identified and subjected to six generations of selfing via a single seed descent method, producing 1000 immortal MAGIC inbred lines. The development of this sorghum MAGIC population took over 15 years. Genotyping-by-sequencing of a subset of 200 MAGIC inbreds identified 79,728 SNPs, spanning high gene rich regions. Proportion of SNPs per chromosome ranged from 6% to 15%. Structure analyses produced no strong evidence of population stratification, portraying the desirability of this population for genome-wide association studies (GWAS).