The patterns of deleterious mutations during the domestication of soybean

Nat Commun. 2021 Jan 4;12(1):97. doi: 10.1038/s41467-020-20337-3.

Abstract

Globally, soybean is a major protein and oil crop. Enhancing our understanding of the soybean domestication and improvement process helps boost genomics-assisted breeding efforts. Here we present a genome-wide variation map of 10.6 million single-nucleotide polymorphisms and 1.4 million indels for 781 soybean individuals which includes 418 domesticated (Glycine max), 345 wild (Glycine soja), and 18 natural hybrid (G. max/G. soja) accessions. We describe the enhanced detection of 183 domestication-selective sweeps and the patterns of putative deleterious mutations during domestication and improvement. This predominantly selfing species shows 7.1% reduction of overall deleterious mutations in domesticated soybean relative to wild soybean and a further 1.4% reduction from landrace to improved accessions. The detected domestication-selective sweeps also show reduced levels of deleterious alleles. Importantly, genotype imputation with this resource increases the mapping resolution of genome-wide association studies for seed protein and oil traits in a soybean diversity panel.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Chromosomes, Plant / genetics
  • Databases, Genetic
  • Domestication*
  • Genetic Variation
  • Genetics, Population
  • Genome, Plant
  • Genome-Wide Association Study
  • Glycine max / genetics*
  • Haplotypes / genetics
  • Mutation / genetics*
  • Phylogeny
  • Selection, Genetic