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A flowering time locus dependent on E2 in soybean

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Abstract

Soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merrill] is very sensitive to changes in photoperiod as a typical short-day plant. Photoperiodic flowering influences soybean latitudinal adaptability and yield to a considerable degree. Identifying new quantitative trait loci (QTLs) controlling flowering time is a powerful initial approach for elucidating the mechanisms underlying flowering time and adaptation to different latitudes in soybean. In this study, we developed a Recombinant Inbred Lines (RILs) population and recorded flowering time under natural long-day conditions. We also constructed a high-density genetic map by genotyping-by-sequencing and used it for QTL mapping. In total, we detected twelve QTLs, four of which are stable and named by qR1-2, qR1-4, qR1-6.1, and qR1-10, respectively. Among these four QTLs, qR1-4 and qR1-6.1 are novel. QTL mapping in two sub-populations classified by the genotype of the maturity locus E2, genetic interaction evaluation between E2 and qR1-2, and qRT-PCR indicated that E2 has an epistatic effect on qR1-2, and that causal gene of qR1-2 acts upstream of E2. We presumed the most likely candidate genes according to the resequencing data and briefly analyzed the geographic distributions of these genes. These findings will be beneficial for our understanding of the mechanisms underlying photoperiodic flowering in soybean, contribute to further investigate of E2, and provide genetic resources for molecular breeding of soybean.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to acknowledge Mrs. Yafeng Liu for phenotyping and managing the filed.

Funding

This work was supported by Natural Key R&D Program of China (2017YFE0111000); EUCLEG Horizon 2020 of European Union (727312); National Natural Science Foundation of China (31930083, 31725021); the Major Program of Guangdong Basic and Applied Research (2019B030302006); the Open Project Foundation of National Key Laboratory for Crop Genetics and Germplasm Enhancement (ZW201901); Heilongjiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars (2020JCQN005); and Heilongjiang Provincial Science and Technology Major Project (2019ZX16B01).

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  1. Tong Su, Yanping Wang and Shichen Li contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Innovative Academy of Seed Design, Key Laboratory of Soybean Molecular Design Breeding, Northeast Institute of Geography and Agroecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Harbin, China

    Tong Su, Shichen Li, Lingshuang Wang, Kun Kou, Baohui Liu & Fanjiang Kong

  2. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

    Tong Su, Shichen Li, Lingshuang Wang & Kun Kou

  3. Mudanjiang Branch of Heilongjiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Mudanjiang, China

    Yanping Wang

  4. Innovative Center of Molecular Genetics and Evolution, School of Life Sciences, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou, China

    Lingping Kong, Qun Cheng, Lidong Dong, Baohui Liu, Fanjiang Kong, Sijia Lu & Chao Fang

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  1. Tong Su
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  2. Yanping Wang
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  3. Shichen Li
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  11. Sijia Lu
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Contributions

CF designed the experiments. TS, YW, SL, LW, KK, LK, QC, and LD carried out the experiments. TS, BL, FK, SL, and CF analyzed the data. TS, FK, SL, and CF wrote the paper.

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Correspondence to Fanjiang Kong, Sijia Lu or Chao Fang.

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Su, T., Wang, Y., Li, S. et al. A flowering time locus dependent on E2 in soybean. Mol Breeding 41, 35 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11032-021-01224-1

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