The Organ Size and Morphological Change During the Domestication Process of Soybean

Xuan Zhou; Dongfa Wang; Yawen Mao; Yueqiong Zhou; Limei Zhao; Chunbao Zhang; Yu Liu; Jianghua Chen

doi:10.3389/fpls.2022.913238

The Organ Size and Morphological Change During the Domestication Process of Soybean

Front Plant Sci. 2022 Jun 9:13:913238. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2022.913238. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Xuan Zhou^{1

2}, Dongfa Wang^{1

3}, Yawen Mao^{1

2}, Yueqiong Zhou^{1

2}, Limei Zhao⁴, Chunbao Zhang⁴, Yu Liu¹, Jianghua Chen^{1

2

3

5}

Affiliations

¹ CAS Key Laboratory of Tropical Plant Resources and Sustainable Use, CAS Center for Excellence in Molecular Plant Sciences, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, China.
² University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
³ School of Life Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China.
⁴ Soybean Research Institute, Jilin Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Changchun, China.
⁵ Yunnan Key Laboratory of Plant Reproductive Adaptation and Evolutionary Ecology and Institute of Biodiversity, School of Ecology and Environmental Science, Yunnan University, Kunming, China.

Abstract

Soybean is one of the most important legume crops that can provide the rich source of protein and oil for human beings and livestock. In the twenty-one century, the total production of soybean is seriously behind the needs of a growing world population. Cultivated soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] was domesticated from wild soybean (G. soja Sieb. and Zucc.) with the significant morphology and organ size changes in China around 5,000 years ago, including twisted stems to erect stems, small seeds to large seeds. Then it was spread worldwide to become one of the most popular and important crops. The release of the reference soybean genome and omics data provides powerful tools for researchers and breeders to dissect the functional genes and apply the germplasm in their work. Here, we summarized the function genes related to yield traits and organ size in soybean, including stem growth habit, leaf size and shape, seed size and weight. In addition, we also summarized the selection of organ traits during soybean domestication. In the end, we also discussed the application of new technology including the gene editing on the basic research and breeding of soybean, and the challenges and research hotspots in the future.

Keywords: domestication; leaf size and shape; seed size and weight; soybean; stem growth habit.

Publication types

Review