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ARS Home » Midwest Area » West Lafayette, Indiana » Crop Production and Pest Control Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #120280
Title: GENOMIC ORGANIZATION OF THE GROUP-1 GLYCININ GENES OF SOYBEAN

Author
item BEILINSON, VADIM - PURDUE UNIV, BCHM
item CHEN, ZHIJIAN - IOWA STATE, AGRY
item SHOEMAKER, RANDY - 3625-10-00
item FISCHER, ROBERT - UNIV CALIF, BERKELEY
item GOLDBERG, ROBERT - UNIV CALIF, LA, BIOLOGY
item Nielsen, Niels

Submitted to: Theoretical and Applied Genetics
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 8/15/2001
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: An important objective of soybean breeders has been to improve the nutritional quality of soybean. The low amounts of methionine and cysteine in seeds have long been a focus of these efforts. Although most of the genes that encode subunits of the most prevalent seed proteins have been recognized for some time, information concerning their location in the soybean genome has been lacking. In this report, two new genes that encode glycinin subunits were described. One of the new genes (Gy6) was defective, while the other (Gy7) was fully functional. Data were presented to show that the new genes were genetically linked to two other glycinin genes, Gy2 and Gy3, respectively. These, in turn, were demonstrated to reside in different genetic linkage groups in the soybean genome. The information will be useful to soybean geneticists and molecular biologists that wish to manipulate soybean genes to improve seed quality.

Technical Abstract: Glycinin is the predominant seed storage protein in most soybean varieties. Previously, five major genes (designated Gy1 to Gy5) encoding glycinin subunits have been described. In this report two new genes are identified and mapped: a glycinin pseudogene, Gy6, and a functional gene, Gy7. Messenger RNA for the Gy6 pseudogene could not be detected in developing seeds. While Gy7 mRNA was present at the midmaturation stage of seed development in the soybean variety Resnik, the steady state amount of this message was at least an order of magnitude less prevalent than mRNA encoding each of the other five glycinin subunits. Even though the amino acid sequence of the glycinin subunit G7 is related to the other five soybean 11S subunits, it does not fit into either the Group-1 (G1, G2, G3) or the Group-2 (G4, G5) glycinin subunit families. The Gy7 gene is tandemly linked 3' to Gy3 on Linkage Group L of the public molecular linkage map. Gy6 occupies a locus downstream from Gy2 in Linkage Group N at a position that is homeologous to that of Gy7 in Linkage Group L. Because the subunit encoded by Gy7 contains more sulfur amino acids than the other five glycinin subunits, it is potentially useful for the improvement of nutritional quality in soybean.