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Genome-wide association mapping for protein, oil and water-soluble protein contents in soybean

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Abstract

As a globally important legume crop, soybean provides excellent sources of protein and oil for human and livestock nutrition. Improving seed protein and oil contents has always been an important objective in soybean breeding. Water-soluble protein plays a significant role in the processing and efficacy of soybean protein. Here, a genome-wide association study (GWAS) of seed compositions (protein, oil, and water-soluble protein contents) was conducted using 211 diverse soybean accessions genotyped with a 355 K SoySNP array. Three, four, and five QTLs were identified related to the protein, oil, and water-soluble protein contents, respectively. Furthermore, five QTLs (qPC-15-1, qOC-8-1, qOC-12-1, qOC-20-1 and qWSPC-8-1) were detected in multiple environments. Analysis of the favorable alleles for oil and water-soluble protein contents showed that qOC-8-1 (qWSPC-8-1) exerted inverse effects on oil and water-soluble protein synthesis. Relative expression analysis suggested that Glyma.15G049200 in qPC-15-1 affects protein synthesis and Glyma.08G107800 in qOC-8-1 and qWSPC-8-1 might be involved in oil and water-soluble protein synthesis, producing opposite effects. The candidate genes and significant SNPs detected in the present study will allow a deeper understanding of the genetic basis for the regulation of protein, oil and water-soluble protein contents and provide important information that could be utilized in marker-assisted selection for soybean quality improvement.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported in part by the Ministry of Science and Technology (2017YFE0111000), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (KYZ201705), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31571688, 31871649, 31671715), and the Ministry of Agriculture (2016ZX08004-003, 2016ZX08009003-004).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Key Laboratory of Crop Genetics and Germplasm Enhancement, National Center for Soybean Improvement, Jiangsu Collaborative Innovation Center for Modern Crop Production, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, 210095, China

    Shanshan Zhang, Shuyu Zhang, Hui Wang, Guizhen Kan & Deyue Yu

  2. Jiangsu Yanjiang Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Nantong, 226000, China

    Derong Hao

  3. Collaborative Innovation Center of Henan Grain Crops, College of Agronomy, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou, 450000, China

    Dan Zhang

  4. School of Life Sciences, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou, 510006, China

    Haiping Du

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  1. Shanshan Zhang
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  2. Derong Hao
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  3. Shuyu Zhang
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  4. Dan Zhang
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  5. Hui Wang
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  6. Haiping Du
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  7. Guizhen Kan
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  8. Deyue Yu
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Contributions

GK, DY, and SZ designed the research, and SZ, DH, SZ, and DZ performed the research. SZ, HW, and HD analyzed the data, and SZ wrote the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Guizhen Kan or Deyue Yu.

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Zhang, S., Hao, D., Zhang, S. et al. Genome-wide association mapping for protein, oil and water-soluble protein contents in soybean. Mol Genet Genomics 296, 91–102 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00438-020-01704-7

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