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Genetic diversity of European commercial soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] germplasm revealed by SSR markers

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Abstract

There are numerous soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] breeding programs in Europe focused on development of elite non genetically modified (GM) cultivars for fast growing market of GM-free proteins for animal feed. Due to low variability of visual descriptors and mostly unknown pedigrees, divergent parents’ selection for crosses is a great challenge. Another challenge is cultivar distinction and protection of plant breeders’ rights of ever-increasing number of cultivars. By using 42 microsatellite (SSR) markers, we performed characterization of 97 commercial soybean cultivars and experimental lines developed at various research and breeding institutions in Europe (86) and in North and South America (11) in order to assess their genotype distinction power as well as utility for estimating genetic diversity and genetic structure. A set of 27 most polymorphic SSR markers was sufficient to discriminate all 97 genotypes. Discrimination of, by pedigree very related cultivars, was somewhat difficult due to the low polymorphism but still possible. Cluster analysis showed that European germplasm is mainly distributed into clusters reflecting breeding programs and maturity groups. Performed genetic characterization provides an insight into genetic structure of European soybean germplasm and might serve as a starting point for future breeding decisions. Disclosed SSR data of the analyzed commercial European germplasm can serve for genetic fingerprinting purpose as well as for foundation of public soybean cultivar database.

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Acknowledgements

This research was funded by the Environmental Protection and Energy Efficiency Fund with the support of the Croatian Science Foundation of the Republic of Croatia and partly supported by the project KK.01.1.1.01.0005, Centre of Excellence for Biodiversity and Molecular Plant Breeding (CoE CroP-BioDiv), Zagreb, Croatia. Special thanks to Dr. Marco Signor, Regional Agriculture Agency of Friuli Venezia Giulia (ERSA), Udine, Italy, who provided for this research number of genotypes.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Plant Breeding, Genetics and Biometrics, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Zagreb, Svetošimunska 25, 10000, Zagreb, Croatia

    Maja Žulj Mihaljević, Hrvoje Šarčević, Ana Lovrić, Zoe Andrijanić & Ivan Pejić

  2. Agricultural Institute Osijek, Južno predgrađe 17, 31000, Osijek, Croatia

    Aleksandra Sudarić

  3. Centre of Excellence for Biodiversity and Molecular Plant Breeding (CoE CroP-BioDiv), Faculty of Agriculture, University of Zagreb, Svetošimunska 25, 10000, Zagreb, Croatia

    Hrvoje Šarčević, Zoe Andrijanić, Aleksandra Sudarić & Ivan Pejić

  4. Croatian Agency for Agriculture and Food - Centre for Seed and Seedling Production, Vinkovačka c. 63c, 31000, Osijek, Croatia

    Goran Jukić

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  1. Maja Žulj Mihaljević
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  2. Hrvoje Šarčević
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Correspondence to Hrvoje Šarčević.

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Online resource 1

List of selected SSR loci (DOCX 30 kb)

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Genetic profiles of 97 soybean genotypes across 42 SSR loci. Allele values are given in base pairs (XLSX 45 kb)

Online resource 3

Range, alleles and major allele frequencies for 42 SSR loci. (DOCX 27 kb)

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Žulj Mihaljević, M., Šarčević, H., Lovrić, A. et al. Genetic diversity of European commercial soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] germplasm revealed by SSR markers. Genet Resour Crop Evol 67, 1587–1600 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10722-020-00934-3

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