1
Mark E. Sorrells: Plant Breeder, Geneticist, Innovator, Mentor

Alvina Gul

National University of Sciences and Technology, Islamabad, Pakistan
Section of Plant Breeding and Genetics, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA

Christine H. Diepenbrock

Corteva Agriscience™, Agriculture Division of DowDuPont™, Johnston, IA, USA

Flavio Breseghello

Embrapa Rice and Beans, Santo Antônio de Goiás, Brazil

Euclydes Minella

Embrapa Wheat, Passo Fundo, Brazil

Jesse D. Munkvold

Corteva Agriscience™, Agriculture Division of DowDuPont™, Johnston, IA, USA

Andrew H. Paterson

Plant Genome Mapping Laboratory, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA

Lisa Kissing Kucek

USDA‐ARS Dairy Forage Research Center, Madison, WI, USA
Section of Plant Breeding and Genetics, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA

Edward Souza

BASF Seeds Excellence, Beaver Crossing, NE, USA

Mauricio La Rota

Corteva Agriscience™, Agriculture Division of DowDuPont™, Johnston, IA, USA

Long‐Xi Yu

USDA‐ARS, Plant Germplasm Introduction and Testing Research, Prosser, WA, USA

Ju‐Kyung Yu

Syngenta Crop Protection LLC, Research Triangle Park, NC, USA

Zhengqiang Ma

Department of Crop Genetics and Breeding, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China

Allen Van Deynze

Plant Science Department, University of California, Davis, CA, USA

Jessica Rutkoski

Rice Breeding Platform, International Rice Research Institute, Los Baños, Philippines

Elliot L. Heffner

Corteva Agriscience™, Agriculture Division of DowDuPont™, Johnston, IA, USA

Jorge da Silva

Texas A&M AgriLife Research, Texas A&M University System, Weslaco, TX, USA

Julio Isidro Sanchez

Animal and Crop Section, School of Agriculture and Food Science, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland

KEYWORDS: wheat, oat, barley, saccharum, tef, pre‐harvest sprouting, rust, gene mapping, gene cloning, genomic selection, association breeding, seed dormancy

1. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH AND BACKGROUND
2. RESEARCH
   1. Breeding, Preharvest Sprouting, and Mapping Populations
      1. Variety Development
      2. Innovative Methodologies in Applied Plant Breeding
         1. Pioneered of Recurrent Selection for Wheat Improvement Using a Dominant Male‐Sterile Gene
         2. Landmark Papers Published on Genotype by Environment (G×E) Interactions
      3. Seed Dormancy and Preharvest Sprouting Research
      4. Establishment of Important Wheat Reference Mapping Populations
      5. A Global Team for Developing Durable Rust Resistance in Wheat (DRRW) by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
   2. Molecular Marker‐Assisted Breeding
      1. Innovated of Theory and Analysis of Linkage for Molecular Mapping in Polyploids
      2. Application of Molecular Marker Technologies in Wheat Gene Mapping
      3. DNA Sequence Comparative Map for Wheat/Rice
      4. Comparative Molecular Maps and Traits Among Poaceae Species
      5. Molecular Marker Maps for Oat, Barley, and Wheat
      6. Molecular Marker Map of Tef
      7. Molecular Marker Map of Saccharum
   3. Genomics in Plant Breeding and Big Data
      1. Genome‐Wide Association Studies and Association Breeding
      2. Genomic Selection Theory and Application in Small Grains
      3. Big Data Management
3. MARK'S ATTRIBUTES AND PHILOSOPHIES
   1. It Starts in the Field
   2. Harness the Enthusiasm and Energy of Others
   3. Connect Diverse Ideas and People
   4. Take Time for People
   5. A Sponsor and Advocate for Students
   6. Future Prospects

• LITERATURE CITED
• CULTIVAR RELEASE AND GERMPLASM REGISTRATION
• SELECTED PAPERS OF MARK E. SORRELLS

ABBREVIATIONS

AMMI

Additive Main Effects and Multiplicative Interactions

CIMMYT

International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center

CSSA

Crop Science Society of America

DArT

Diversity Arrays Technology

EST

Expressed sequence tag

FHB

Fusarium head blight

GBS

Genotyping by sequencing

G×E

Genotype by environment

GEBV

Genomic estimated breeding value

GOBii

Genomic Open‐source Breeding Informatics Initiative

GOM Award

Gerald O. Mott Award

GS

Genomic selection

GWAS

Genome‐wide association study

ICARDA

International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas

ITMI

International Triticeae Mapping Initiative

IWWIP

International Winter Wheat Improvement Program

MAS

Marker‐assisted selection

PCR

Polymerase chain reaction

PHS

Preharvest sprouting

QTL

Quantitative trait loci

PS

Population structure

RF

Random forest

RFLP

Restriction fragment length polymorphism

SDRF

Single‐dose restriction fragment

SIU

Southern Illinois University

SNP

Single‐nucleotide polymorphism

SSR

Simple sequence repeat

USDA

United States Department of Agriculture

wBSR

weighted Bayesian shrinkage regression

Mark E. Sorrells is a plant breeder, geneticist, mentor, and professor who has dedicated more than 40 years to the field. Mark's major contributions have been in the development of breeding methodologies for wheat improvement, including the use of a dominant male‐sterile gene, marker development, genomic selection theory, and application in small grains and variety development. He has also been very engaged in graduate student education. The success of his students in both academia and industry reflects his ability as an instructor and mentor, which is perhaps his biggest contribution to plant breeding. Mark always provides outstanding scientific training, and continually emphasizes the value of excellence in the research process, the value of hard work, and the importance of an open mind to new technologies. One of the most remarkable of his skills is the ability to combine plant breeding theory and practice. His work has focused mainly on wheat, but he has also published on maize, rice, oat, barley, tef, and sugarcane, which has given him a wide perspective. These assets have contributed to a career marked by more than 270 scientific papers, many national and international collaborations and conferences, and outstanding student training and mentoring. As his colleagues and former students, we dedicate this chapter to Mark's outstanding career in plant breeding and genetics, his leadership, and his positive influence on students and colleagues over the years.

I. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH AND BACKGROUND

Dr. Mark Sorrells' love for scientific knowledge was grounded in his childhood spent on a diverse central Illinois farm that included both field crops and livestock. Dr. Sorrells began his scientific career at Southern Illinois University ()‐Carbondale, majoring in electrical engineering. SIU had a tropical plant conservatory that Sorrells frequented on his way to classes. He became acquainted with the conservatory manager, Mr. Mayberry, who would often give Sorrells plants or cuttings to take home. Because of his growing interest in plants, he changed his major to botany in his sophomore year, earning a bachelor’s degree in that subject in 1973. He achieved his master's in plant and soil science two years later, under the watchful eye of Dr. Oval Myers, Jr., a maize and soybean breeder. As part of this program, he spent a year in Brazil's Federal University of Santa Maria with a team of scientists conducting breeding, genetics, and physiology research on maize, sorghum, and soybean.

Sorrells received his Ph.D. in plant genetics and breeding from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1977, working on maize under the supervision of Dr. John Lonnquist, whose program was focused on population improvement. Subsequently, he joined Edwin T. Bingham's lab to work on cytogenetics of the ms1 mutant in soybean. Within a year of acquiring his doctorate degree, Sorrells joined the faculty of the Department of Plant Breeding and Biometry at Cornell University. Six years later, he became associate professor, and then a full professor in 1991. After joining the faculty at Cornell, Sorrells took advantage of his training in population improvement and cytogenetics to initiate related projects. For example, he introgressed the dominant male‐sterile gene into locally adapted wheat germplasm and initiated recurrent selection in several populations. He used tetraploid and diploid oat species to create novel amphidiploids, which he crossed to cultivated oat...