Transcriptome profiling of soybean root tips

Soybean (Glycine max L.), a major legume crop, is important to human nutrition and is a source of animal feed. Similar to many legumes, a key feature of the soybean is its symbiotic association with soil bacteria that fix atmospheric nitrogen. However, knowledge of the gene expression of its root system, particularly the root meristematic region, is limited. Here, we have addressed this by investigating the gene expression profile of the soybean root tip, using soybean Affymetrix chips containing 37500 probe sets (Affymetrix Inc.) and have compared this expression profile with that of the nonmeristematic tissue. We identified a total of 5012 upregulated and 4136 downregulated genes in the soybean root tip. Among the upregulated genes, 559 showed strong preferential expression in the root tip, indicating that they are likely to be associated with root apical meristem specificity and root tip function. Genes involved in membrane transport, defence signalling and metabolism were upregulated in the soybean root tip. Further, our data provide a resource of novel target genes for further studies involving root development and biology, and will possibly have a positive impact on future crop breeding.