Genome-wide expression analysis of soybean MADS genes showing potential function in the seed development

The MADS family is an ancient and best-studied transcription factor and plays fundamental roles in almost every developmental process in plants. In the plant evolutionary history, the whole genome duplication (WGD) events are important not only to the plant species evolution, but to expansion of members of the gene families. Soybean as a model legume crop has experience three rounds of WGD events. Members of some MIKC(C) subfamilies, such as SOC, AGL6, SQUA, SVP, AGL17 and DEF/GLO, were expanded after soybean three rounds of WGD events. And some MIKC(C) subfamilies, MIKC* and type I MADS families had experienced faster birth-and-death evolution and their traces before the Glycine WGD event were not found. Transposed duplication played important roles in tandem arrangements among the members of different subfamilies. According to the expression profiles of type I and MIKC paralog pair genes, the fates of MIKC paralog gene pairs were subfunctionalization, and the fates of type I MADS paralog gene pairs were nonfunctionalization. 137 out of 163 MADS genes were close to 186 loci within 2 Mb genomic regions associated with seed-relative QTLs, among which 115 genes expressed during the seed development. Although MIKC(C) genes kept the important and conserved functions of the flower development, most MIKC(C) genes showed potentially essential roles in the seed development as well as the type I MADS.