Location: Soybean/maize Germplasm, Pathology, and Genetics Research
Project Number: 5012-21000-033-002-R
Project Type: Reimbursable Cooperative Agreement
Start Date: Oct 1, 2021
End Date: Feb 28, 2023
Objective:
1) Use PI accessions from the USDA Soybean Germplasm Collection for yield improvement to develop and release soybean lines with significantly increased genetic diversity, greater productivity, higher seed protein concentration, and improved nutrition bundle compared with current high-yield cultivars.
2) Identify and characterize candidate genes for the large-effect QTLs on Chromosomes 15 and 20, including the development and evaluation of transgenic lines to evaluate effects of gene candidates in different genetic backgrounds in greenhouse and field environments.
3) Characterize protein composition, amino acid profiles, and soluble carbohydrate composition of seeds from our developed high-protein, high-yield lines from diverse G. max accessions and of selected experimental extreme high-protein lines from long-term selection programs.
4) Increase genetic diversity, seed composition, and seed quality in the early-planting soybean production system (ESPS) in southern US production areas.
Approach:
1) The Cooperator and ARS breeding programs in Illinois, Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri, Mississippi, Kansas and Minnesota will develop a coordinated, focused breeding effort that will use a variety of exotic sources to breed for increased protein and yield. Our best lines derived from exotic germplasm will be tested in cooperation with the commercial soybean breeding companies. We will obtain the seed composition data using NIRS technology. We will obtain data for seed protein, oil, moisture, and fiber concentrations, and calculate total protein + oil, carbohydrates, meal protein % and meal yield per bushel, oil yield per bushel, estimated processed value per bushel (EPV), and estimated processed value per acre (EPVA).
2) Support from this program will enable the research team to further dissect the Glyma.20G085100 gene call through genome editing tools. To this end, editing reagents will be designed to add genetic variation to both the promoter element (app. 2 kb region upstream of gene call), along with direct editing of the gene call itself, as a means to modulate expression of Glyma.20G085100. Progenies derived from the edited versions of Glyma.20G085100 will subsequently be phenotyped under controlled and field-based environments for seed composition and plant traits.
3) To characterize and monitor amino acid profiles in the new high-protein, high-yield lines that we develop, we will analyze the top yielding 50% of lines for amino acid profile and soluble carbohydrate composition and also obtain genome-wide genotype information on all new lines and parents to facilitate our breeding efforts, gene mapping, and parental selection. To help answer questions related to protein quality changes with selection for increased seed protein concentration, we also are using resources from a long-term selection program that has been ongoing by the Cooperator for the past 30 years.
4) We will continue efforts to enhance seed quality for both environmental stresses and composition in this region. In addition, entries in the MG III, III, and IV Diversity Coop Tests or other potential parent lines from the participating breeding programs, will be evaluated for seed quality at a Mississippi location. The information will provide information on potential new diverse parent sources for the ESPS system and will identify lines in earlier maturity groups that have good resistance to temperature stress during seed development. This is all part of our coordinated efforts in applied and basic research to increase genetic diversity and compositional quality of the US soybean germplasm pool.
