Genetic mapping and functional genomics of soybean seed protein

Shu Liu; Zhaojun Liu; Xingliang Hou; Xiaoming Li

doi:10.1007/s11032-023-01373-5

Genetic mapping and functional genomics of soybean seed protein

Mol Breed. 2023 Apr 12;43(4):29. doi: 10.1007/s11032-023-01373-5. eCollection 2023 Apr.

Authors

Shu Liu^{1

2}, Zhaojun Liu³, Xingliang Hou^{1

4}, Xiaoming Li^{1

4}

Affiliations

¹ Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Applied Botany & Key Laboratory of South China Agricultural Plant Molecular Analysis and Genetic Improvement, South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, 510650 China.
² University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049 China.
³ Heilongjiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Harbin, 150086 China.
⁴ Hainan Yazhou Bay Seed Laboratory, Sanya, 572025 China.

Abstract

Soybean is an utterly important crop for high-quality meal protein and vegetative oil. Soybean seed protein content has become a key factor in nutrients for livestock feed as well as human dietary consumption. Genetic improvement of soybean seed protein is highly desired to meet the demands of rapidly growing world population. Molecular mapping and genomic analysis in soybean have identified many quantitative trait loci (QTL) underlying seed protein content control. Exploring the mechanisms of seed storage protein regulation will be helpful to achieve the improvement of protein content. However, the practice of breeding higher protein soybean is challenging because soybean seed protein is negatively correlated with seed oil content and yield. To overcome the limitation of such inverse relationship, deeper insights into the property and genetic control of seed protein are required. Recent advances of soybean genomics have strongly enhanced the understandings for molecular mechanisms of soybean with better seed quality. Here, we review the research progress in the genetic characteristics of soybean storage protein, and up-to-date advances of molecular mappings and genomics of soybean protein. The key factors underlying the mechanisms of the negative correlation between protein and oil in soybean seeds are elaborated. We also briefly discuss the future prospects of breaking the bottleneck of the negative correlation to develop high protein soybean without penalty of oil and yield.

Supplementary information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11032-023-01373-5.

Keywords: Genomics; Molecular breeding; Negative correlation; QTL; Seed protein; Soybean.

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