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Using the candidate gene approach for detecting genes underlying seed oil concentration and yield in soybean

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Abstract

Increasing the oil concentration in soybean seeds has been given more attention in recent years because of demand for both edible oil and biodiesel production. Oil concentration in soybean is a complex quantitative trait regulated by many genes as well as environmental conditions. To identify genes governing seed oil concentration in soybean, 16 putative candidate genes of three important gene families (GPAT: acyl-CoA:sn-glycerol-3-phosphate acyltransferase, DGAT: acyl-CoA:diacylglycerol acyltransferase, and PDAT: phospholipid:diacylglycerol acyltransferase) involved in triacylglycerol (TAG) biosynthesis pathways were selected and their sequences retrieved from the soybean database (http://www.phytozome.net/soybean). Three sequence mutations were discovered in either coding or noncoding regions of three DGAT soybean isoforms when comparing the parents of a 203 recombinant inbreed line (RIL) population; OAC Wallace and OAC Glencoe. The RIL population was used to study the effects of these mutations on seed oil concentration and other important agronomic and seed composition traits, including seed yield and protein concentration across three field locations in Ontario, Canada, in 2009 and 2010. An insertion/deletion (indel) mutation in the GmDGAT2B gene in OAC Wallace was significantly associated with reduced seed oil concentration across three environments and reduced seed yield at Woodstock in 2010. A mutation in the 3′ untranslated (3′UTR) region of GmDGAT2C was associated with seed yield at Woodstock in 2009. A mutation in the intronic region of GmDGAR1B was associated with seed yield and protein concentration at Ottawa in 2010. The genes identified in this study had minor effects on either seed yield or oil concentration, which was in agreement with the quantitative nature of the traits. However, the novel gene-specific markers designed in the present study can be used in soybean breeding for marker-assisted selection aimed at increasing seed yield and oil concentration with no significant impact on seed protein concentration.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Drs G. R. Ablett (in memoriam), K. P. Pauls, L. R. Erikson, and Y. Kakuda (University of Guelph) for their valuable suggestions on this research. The authors are also grateful to Wade Montminy, Chris Grainger, Ron Guillemette, Bryan Stirling, Dennis Fischer and the entire soybean crew at the University of Guelph for their excellent technical support. Generous funding to conduct this research was provided by the Alternative Renewable Fuels II Program of the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA) and by the Grain Farmers of Ontario.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Plant Agriculture, Crop Science Building, University of Guelph, 50 Stone Road East, Guelph, ON, N1G 2W1, Canada

    Mehrzad Eskandari & Istvan Rajcan

  2. Agriculture and Agrifood Canada, Eastern Cereal and Oilseed Crop Research Centre, 960 Carling Ave, Ottawa, ON, K1A 0C6, Canada

    Elroy R. Cober

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  1. Mehrzad Eskandari
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  2. Elroy R. Cober
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  3. Istvan Rajcan
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Correspondence to Istvan Rajcan.

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Communicated by D. Lightfoot.

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Eskandari, M., Cober, E.R. & Rajcan, I. Using the candidate gene approach for detecting genes underlying seed oil concentration and yield in soybean. Theor Appl Genet 126, 1839–1850 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00122-013-2096-7

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