Geographical distribution of GmTfl1 alleles in Chinese soybean varieties

Stem growth habit is an important agronomic trait in soybean and is subject to artificial selection. This study aimed to provide a theory for genotypic selection of stem growth habit for breeding purposes by analyzing the alleles of Gm Tfl1 gene in Chinese soybean varieties and establishing a database of Gm Tfl1 variation. Using knowledge of insertion and deletion(Indel) in the non-coding region and four single-nucleotide polymorphisms(SNPs) in the coding sequences of the Gm Tfl1 gene, four CAPS and one Indel markers were developed and used to test 1120 Chinese soybean varieties. We found that the dominant Gm Tfl1 allele was prevalent in accessions from the Northern ecoregion, whereas the recessive allele, Gmtfl1, was more common in the Southern ecoregion, and the proportions of Gm Tfl1 and recessive alleles were respectively 40.1% and 59.9% in the Huang-Huai ecoregion. The proportion of Gm Tfl1 decreased and that of Gmtfl1 increased, gradually from north to south. Allele Gm Tfl1-a was present in higher proportions in the Huang-Huai spring, Huang-Huai summer, and Northern spring sub-ecoregions than that in the other sub-ecoregions. Gm Tfl1-b was common in the Northeast spring, Northern spring and Southern summer sub-ecoregions. Gmtfl1-ta was found mainly in the Huang-Huai spring,Huang-Huai summer and Southern spring sub-ecoregions. The Gmtfl1-ab allele was distributed in all six soybean sub-ecoregions. The Gmtfl1-bb allele was distributed mainly in the Huang-Huai spring and summer and Southern spring and summer sub-ecoregions,but the Gmtfl1-tb allele was detected only in the Huang-Huai summer sub-ecoregion. The distributions of Gm Tfl1 and Gmtfl1 have shown no large changes in nearly 60 years of breeding, but the frequency of the recessive genotype Gmtfl1 has shown a rising trend in the last 20 years. This study provides a theoretical foundation for breeding new soybean varieties for different ecoregions.

Development and utilization of a new chemically-induced soybean library with a high mutation density

Mutagenized populations have provided important materials for introducing variation and identifying gene function in plants. In this study, an ethyl methanesulfonate（EMS）-induced soybean（Glycine max） population,consisting of 21,600 independent M_2 lines, was developed.Over 1,000 M_（4（5））families, with diverse abnormal phenotypes for seed composition, seed shape, plant morphology and maturity that are stably expressed across different environments and generations were identified. Phenotypic analysis of the population led to the identification of a yellow pigmentation mutant, gyl, that displayed significantly decreased chlorophyll（Chl） content and abnormal chloroplast development. Sequence analysis showed that gyl is allelic to Minn Gold, where a different single nucleotide polymorphism variation in the Mg-chelatase subunit gene（ChlI1a） results in golden yellow leaves. A cleaved amplified polymorphic sequence marker was developed and may be applied to marker-assisted selection for the golden yellow phenotype in soybean breeding. We show that the newly developed soybean EMS mutant population has potential for functional genomics research and genetic improvement in soybean.