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ARS Home » Midwest Area » Urbana, Illinois » Global Change and Photosynthesis Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #275684

Title: Identifying molecular markers for ozone tolerance in soybean

Author
item Ainsworth, Elizabeth - Lisa
item Skoneczka, Jeffrey
item Nelson, Randall

Submitted to: Plant and Animal Genome Conference
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 12/1/2011
Publication Date: 1/14/2012
Citation: Ainsworth, E.A., Skoneczka, J.A., Nelson, R.L. 2012. Identifying molecular markers for ozone tolerance in soybean [abstract]. Plant and Animal Genome Conference. Paper No. W664.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Tropospheric ozone (O3) is damaging air pollutant that is currently costing U.S. farmers hundreds of millions of dollars in yield losses each year. The detrimental effect of O3 on soybean production has been recognized over the past 30 to 40 years, yet there has been little effort to improve soybean response to O3 through breeding or biotechnology. Free Air Concentration Enrichment (FACE) allows the growth of soybeans under elevated O3 concentrations in the production environment, and can provide a platform for conducting genetic screening and elucidation of the mechanisms that underpin genetic variation in productivity at elevated O3 concentrations. Over 40 genotypes of soybean have been screened for O3 tolerance from 2002-2008 at the soybean FACE experiment in Champaign, IL, and two cultivars (Pana and Dwight) with varying responses to O3 were used as parent lines for a recombinant inbred population. In 2011, 208 F6 RILs were grown at elevated O3 in the field. The population will be genotyped using the Universal Soy Linkage panel, and a genome-wide genetic linkage map will be generated. Phenotypic traits including plant growth and development, leaf optical properties and yield were scored in 2011. This data will be used to detect QTLs for O3 tolerance in soybean, and to inform breeding strategies for developing germplasm adapting to the current and future O3 environment.