Submit to Special Issue Submit Abstract to Special Issue Review for Agronomy Propose a Special Issue

Journal Menu

Journal Browser

► Journal Browser

Special Issue "Functional Genomics and Molecular Breeding of Soybeans"

Print Special Issue Flyer
Special Issue Editors
Special Issue Information
Keywords
Published Papers

A special issue of Agronomy (ISSN 2073-4395). This special issue belongs to the section "Crop Breeding and Genetics".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 February 2024 | Viewed by 2294

Share This Special Issue

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Fang Huang
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

National Center for Soybean Improvement, State Key Laboratory of Crop Genetics & Germplasm Enhancement and Utilization, Jiangsu Collaborative Innovation Center for Modern Crop Production, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, China
Interests: soybean molecualr biology; soybean molecular genetics and breeding for yield and quality

Prof. Dr. Lin Zhao
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor Assistant

Key Laboratory of Soybean Biology of Ministry of Education China, Northeast Agricultural University, Harbin 150030, China
Interests: soybean molecualr biology; genetic improvement of soybean growth period

Prof. Dr. Xiaobo Wang
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor Assistant

School of Agronomy, Anhui Agricultural University, Hefei 230036, China
Interests: soybean molecular breeding; functional genomics; gene editing

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr.) is one of the most important grain and oil crops. With the extensive exploitation of soybean gene resources, research on soybean functional genomics using genomic information and phenotypic group information has become increasingly important. With the continuous development of biotechnology, modern breeding techniques, such as whole genome selection breeding and genome editing breeding, are changing rapidly, and the selection of excellent soybean varieties has shifted towards soybean molecular design breeding. This Special Issue will collect cutting-edge research on soybean functional genomics and molecular breeding to further promote soybean molecular design and breeding.

Prof. Dr. Fang Huang
Guest Editor

Prof. Dr. Lin Zhao
Prof. Dr. Xiaobo Wang
Guest Editor Assistant

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Agronomy is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

soybean
functional genomics
molecular breeding

Published Papers (4 papers)

Download All Papers

Order results

Result details

Show export options Show export options

Select all

Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

12 pages, 1969 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Soybean LEAFY COTYLEDON 1: A Key Target for Genetic Enhancement of Oil Biosynthesis

Sehrish Manan

Khulood Fahad Alabbosh

and

Agronomy 2023, 13(11), 2810; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy13112810 - 13 Nov 2023

Viewed by 484

Abstract

Soybean is an important oilseed crop that is used as a feed for livestock and has several industrial uses. Lipid biosynthesis and accumulation primarily occur during seed development in plants. This process is regulated by several transcription factors and interconnected biochemical pathways. This study investigated the role of glycine max LEAFY COTYLEDON 1 (GmLEC1) in soybean seed development and the accumulation of storage reserves. The overexpression of GmLEC1 significantly increased the amount of triacylglycerol (TAG) in transgenic Arabidopsis seeds compared to the wild-type and an atlec1 mutant. Similarly, the high expression of GmLEC1 led to a 12% increase in TAG content in transgenic soybean hairy roots compared to the control. GmLEC1 also altered the fatty acid composition in transgenic Arabidopsis seeds and soybean hairy roots. Additionally, the overexpression of GmLEC1 resulted in a reduction in starch accumulation in seeds and vegetative tissues, as well as changes in cotyledon and seed morphology. The cotyledons of the atlec1 mutant displayed abnormal trichome development, and the seeds were smaller and less tolerant to desiccation. A complementation assay in Arabidopsis restored normal cotyledon phenotype and seed size. The main downstream targets of LEC1 are GL2 and WRI1, which were found to participate in fatty acid biosynthesis and trichome formation through the regulation of phytohormones and various transcription factors involved in seed development and maturation. The findings of this study suggest that GmLEC1 controls seed development and regulates the accumulation of seed storage compounds. Furthermore, these results demonstrate that GmLEC1 could be a reliable target for the genetic improvement of oil biosynthesis in soybean. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Functional Genomics and Molecular Breeding of Soybeans)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

12 pages, 3075 KiB

Open AccessCommunication

Development of a Set of Polymorphic DNA Markers for Soybean (Glycine max L.) Applications

and

Agronomy 2023, 13(11), 2708; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy13112708 - 27 Oct 2023

Viewed by 447

Abstract

Soybean (Glycine max L.) is gaining in importance due to its many uses, including as a food crop and a source of industrial products, among others. Increasing efforts are made to accelerate soybean research and develop new soybean varieties to meet global demands. Soybean research, breeding, identification, and variety protection all rely on precise genomic information. While DNA markers are invaluable tools for these purposes, the older generations, especially those developed before the advent of genome sequencing, lack precision and specificity. Thankfully, advancements in genome sequencing technologies have generated vast amounts of sequence data over the past decade, allowing precise and high-resolution analyses. However, making sense of the genomic information requires a certain level of professional training and computational power, which are not universally available to researchers. To address this, we generated a set of PCR-based DNA markers out of the existing genomic data from 228 popular soybean varieties that offer precise, unambiguous genomic information and can be easily adapted in various applications. A standard operating procedure (SOP) was also designed for these markers and validated on diverse soybean varieties to ensure their reproducibility. This user-friendly universal panel of DNA markers, along with the SOP, will facilitate soybean research and breeding programs through simple applications. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Functional Genomics and Molecular Breeding of Soybeans)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

13 pages, 1875 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Increased Accumulation of Recombinant Proteins in Soybean Seeds via the Combination Strategy of Polypeptide Fusion and Suppression of Endogenous Storage Proteins

and

Agronomy 2023, 13(11), 2680; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy13112680 - 25 Oct 2023

Viewed by 434

Abstract

Soybean seeds show great potential as a safe and cost-effective host for the large-scale production of biopharmaceuticals and industrially important macromolecules. However, the yields of desired recombinant proteins in soybean seeds are usually lower than the economic threshold for their potential commercialization. Our previous study demonstrated that polypeptide fusion such as maize γ-zein or elastin-like polypeptide (ELP) could significantly increase the accumulation of foreign proteins. In the present study, a recombination strategy of polypeptide fusions (γ-zein or ELP) and suppression of intrinsic storage proteins (glycinin or conglycinin) via RNA interference was further exploited to improve the yield of the target protein in soybean seeds. Transgenic soybean plants harboring both polypeptide-fused green fluorescent protein (GFP) and glycinin/conglycinin RNAi expression cassettes were generated and confirmed by molecular analysis. The results showed that on both the glycinin and conglycinin suppression backgrounds, the average accumulation levels of recombinant zein-GFP and GFP-ELP proteins were significantly increased as compared to that of their counterparts without such suppressions in our previous study. Moreover, zein-GFP and GFP-ELP accumulation was also remarkably higher than unfused GFP on the glycinin suppression background. However, no significant differences were detected in the glycinin or conglycinin suppression backgrounds for the same polypeptide fusion constructs, though suppression of one of the storage proteins in soybean seeds led to a significant increase in the other. Additionally, the increases in the recombinant protein yield did not affect the total protein content and the protein/oil ratio in soybean seeds. Taken together, the results indicate that both the fusion of the foreign protein with polypeptide tags together with the depletion of endogenous storage proteins contributed to a higher accumulation of the recombinant proteins without affecting the total protein content or the protein/oil ratio in soybean seeds. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Functional Genomics and Molecular Breeding of Soybeans)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

15 pages, 7945 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Genome-Wide Identification of the Phytocyanin Gene Family and Its Potential Function in Salt Stress in Soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr.)

and

Agronomy 2023, 13(10), 2484; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy13102484 - 27 Sep 2023

Viewed by 622

Abstract

Phytocyanins (PCs), plant-specific blue copper proteins, are crucial for various biological processes during plant development. However, a comprehensive characterization of the soybean PC gene family (GmPC) is lacking. In this study, we performed genome-wide screening of soybean PC genes, and 90 PC genes were identified in the soybean genome. Further analysis revealed that the GmPC family was categorized into four subfamilies (stellacyanins, GmSCs; uclacyanins, GmUCs; plantacyanins, GmPLCs; and early nodulin-like proteins, GmENODLs). In-depth analysis revealed that each specific GmPC subfamily exhibited similar characteristics, with segmental duplications playing a major role in expanding the members of GmPC. Additionally, synteny and evolutionary constraint analyses suggested that GmPCs have undergone strong selective pressure for purification during the evolution of soybeans. The promoter cis-regulatory elements analysis of GmPCs suggested that GmPCs might play a crucial role in various stress responses. The expression patterns of GmPCs exhibited tissue-specific variations. Moreover, 23 of the GmPCs may be involved in soybean’s response to salt stress. In all, our study presents a systematic overview of GmPC, which not only provides a valuable foundation for further functional investigations of GmPCs, but also offers new insights into the mechanism of soybean salt tolerance. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Functional Genomics and Molecular Breeding of Soybeans)

► Show Figures

Journal Menu

Journal Browser

Special Issue "Functional Genomics and Molecular Breeding of Soybeans"

Share This Special Issue

Special Issue Editors

Special Issue Information

Keywords

Published Papers (4 papers)

Research

Further Information

Guidelines

MDPI Initiatives

Follow MDPI