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Updated: May 29, 2026

Soybean Hairy Root Transformation for the Analysis of Gene Function
Published on: May 5, 2023
Phenotypic and genetic dissection of seed shape related traits in soybean (Glycine max L.)
Kanglin Liu1, Huan Yu1, Sawaira Jadoon1
1The Shennong Laboratory/Institute of Crop Molecular Breeding, Henan Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Zhengzhou, China.
Introduction:
Seed shape and hundred-seed weight (HSW) are yield-related traits, but the interrelationships between them and a systematic genetic analysis are lacking.
Methods:
In this study, phenotypic evaluation of seed shape-related traits and HSW was performed in a recombinant inbred line (RIL) population derived from the cross between "ZD41" and "ZYD02878." All seed shape-related traits (SW, seed width; SL, seed length; ST, seed thickness; SP, seed perimeter; SA, seed area; SLW, seed length-to-width ratio; SLT, seed length-to-thickness ratio; SWT, seed width to thickness ratio) were evaluated. Broad-sense heritability was calculated. Correlation analysis, path analysis, QTL mapping (using ICIM, EMMAX, and TASSEL), and genomic selection (using rrBLUP) were performed.
Results:
All seed shape-related traits exhibited approximately normal distributions in the RIL population. The broad-sense heritability of seed shape-related traits ranged from 0.67 to 0.90, indicating that additive genes played a major role in expressing all studied traits. Correlation analysis revealed that SW showed the highest positive correlation with HSW (r = 0.86-0.87, P < 0.001) among the three measured seed shape-related traits (SL, SW, and ST), which agrees with the finding that SW was the only trait showing a positive direct effect on HSW in path analysis. A total of 98 QTL corresponding to 59 unique regions were identified by ICIM, EMMAX, and TASSEL. Three genes, Glyma.02G255900, Glyma.02G270100, and Glyma.02G275200, were identified as candidates for seed shape regulation. Genomic selection for seed shape-related traits using rrBLUP revealed that the prediction accuracy of SL, SW, ST, SP, and SA reached 0.65, 0.68, 0.65, 0.67, and 0.68, respectively, based on genome-wide SNP markers.
Discussion:
This study provided a systematic dissection of seed shape-related traits in terms of both phenotypic and genetic aspects, which laid a solid foundation for gene cloning and could be used in breeding programs in the future.
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