Revealing the Truth Behind A Previously Presumed Locus, E6, in Soybean Variety Paranagoiana

Citation

Nour Nissan, Elroy Cober, Steve Molner, Ashkan Golshani, Bahram Samanfar: Revealing the Truth Behind A Previously Presumed Locus, E6, in Soybean Variety Paranagoiana.Canadian Society of Plant Biologists(CSPB-SCBV) eastern meeting, 2021 Canada.

Abstract

Soybean grown in latitudes of ~20˚ or lower, produce reduced grain yield and quality due to the shorter days within those latitudes. One way to overcome this limitation is by growing varieties carrying the long juvenile (LJ) trait, identified as the J gene, Glyma.04g050200. The LJ trait allows the plant to remain in the vegetative state for a much longer period, delays flowering and produces higher yields. E6 is a locus mapped to the same region as J on chromosome 04 which up until this point, has also been hypothesized to be involved in the LJ trait. Here we aimed to determine if E6 and J are the same locus or linked loci and to answer the puzzling and ongoing debate in the soybean research community. PCR amplification and DNA sequencing analysis of contrasting soybean lines (E6, e6, J, j-1) identified the presence of a Ty1-copia retrotransposon within the 4th exon of the J gene in soybean line “Paranagoiana”, where the E6 locus was first mapped. This was confirmed to impact the mRNA of the gene through further cDNA sequencing of Glyma.04g050200. Our results show that the previously identified soybean maturity locus, E6, does not exist, and that the LJ trait phenotyped in Paranagoiana is due to a new variation in J, now called j-x.

Publication date

2021-11-27