Skip to main content
ARS Home » Northeast Area » Beltsville, Maryland (BARC) » Beltsville Agricultural Research Center » Soybean Genomics & Improvement Laboratory » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #348665

Title: Haplotype analysis of a major and stable QTL underlying soybean (Glycine max) seed oil content reveals footprint of artificial selection

Author
item YAN, LONG - Hebei Academy Of Agriculture
item DI, RUI - Hebei Academy Of Agriculture & Forestry
item WU, CHENGJUN - University Of Arkansas
item HOU, WENHUAN - Hebei Academy Of Agriculture & Forestry
item ZHAO, QINGSONG - Hebei Academy Of Agriculture & Forestry
item LIU, BINGQIANG - Hebei Academy Of Agriculture & Forestry
item SHI, XIAOLEI - Hebei Academy Of Agriculture & Forestry
item YANG, CHUNYAN - Hebei Academy Of Agriculture & Forestry
item Song, Qijian
item ZHANG, MENGCHEN - Hebei Academy Of Agriculture & Forestry

Submitted to: Molecular Breeding
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 2/19/2019
Publication Date: 3/22/2019
Citation: Yan, L., Di, R., Wu, C., Hou, W., Zhao, Q., Liu, B., Shi, X., Yang, C., Song, Q., Zhang, M. 2019. Haplotype analysis of a major and stable QTL underlying soybean (Glycine max) seed oil content reveals footprint of artificial selection. Molecular Breeding. 39:57. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11032-019-0951-1.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11032-019-0951-1

Interpretive Summary: Soybean accounts for about 57% of oilseed production in the world and is a leading source of oil for human food, biodiesel and industrial products. Genes in soybean are responsible for the oils made in soybeans. Although DNA regions with soybean oil content have been reported, most of the genomic regions have minor or unstable effects on oil content. USDA-ARS scientists and researchers at University of Arkansas and Hebei Province Academy of Agricultural and Forestry Sciences, China, identified soybean DNA regions associated with substantial and stable effects on oil content. They discovered these regions by evaluating 6,000 different varieties of soybeans grown at four locations. These DNA regions are delineated by small segments of DNA that serve as markers. These markers will be useful to breeders at universities, government agencies and private companies who can use them to breed new soybeans with higher oil content.

Technical Abstract: Soybean landrace is a valuable genetic resource for soybean improvement. In this study, a recombinant inbred line population derived from elite cultivar ‘Jidou 12’ and landrace accession ‘Heidou’ was used to identify major and stable QTL underlying seed oil content via linkage analysis across four environments. Of the six QTL associated with oil content, qOIL_8_1 was detected across four environments with R2 values ranging from 7.2% to 17.8%. The ‘Heidou’ allele could decrease oil content by 7.2 mg/g on average, compared with ‘Jidou 12’ allele. The strong association between haplotypes at qOIL_8_1 and seed oil content was detected based on four soybean germplasm panels grown at different locations. The seed oil content was the highest in the accessions with ‘CGCTTT’ haplotype, followed by ‘TATGCC and ‘TATTCC’. Significant difference of SNP allele frequency between 5396 landraces and 592 North American cultivars was observed, indicating strong artificial selection at qOIL_8_1 loci in the breeding program. Validation of stable QTL and identification of haplotypes associated with seed oil content will facilitate soybean parent and breeding line selection for seed oil content improvement. In addition, analysis of genetic diversity and bottleneck among elite cultivars and landrace in the QTL region will extend knowledge of the mechanism controlling oil content.