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ARS Home » Midwest Area » Ames, Iowa » Corn Insects and Crop Genetics Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #188563
Title: PALEOPOLYPLOIDY AND GENOME DUPLICATION IN SOYBEAN AND OTHER LEGUMES

Author
item Shoemaker, Randy
item SCHLUETER, JESSICA - ISU
item DOYLE, JEFF - CORNELL UNIVERSITY

Submitted to: Current Opinion in Plant Biology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/1/2006
Publication Date: 7/1/2006
Citation: Shoemaker, R.C., Schlueter, J., Doyle, J. 2006. Paleopolyploidy and genome duplication in soybean and other legumes. Current Opinion in Plant Biology. 9:104-109.

Interpretive Summary: The evolutionary history of the material that controls soybean heredity is complex and makes interpretation of some genetic findings difficult. The vast amounts of data being collected as a result of many federally funded research programs are providing clues as to how to interpret the findings. In this paper the authors review and analyze recent literature on the effects of the duplication of hereditary material in soybean and other nitrogen-fixing plants. The duplications are thought to generate much of the diversity that permits advances in crop productivity. This information will be used by students and researchers in the design of experiments on genome structure and gene function.

Technical Abstract: We are only beginning to understand the complex and fluid genetic state that is generated upon the fusion of two genomes (Taylor and Raes 2004; Ohno, 1970). After duplication chromosomes and genes undergo rearrangements, silencing, losses and reduplication. Mutations allow new functions, or shared functions with the ancestral gene. These changes result in a proliferation of protein diversity (Veitia, 2005) that is a driving force in the evolution of the plant kingdom. It is only with the advent of the genomics age that the extent to which polyploidy permeates, and probably shaped the plant kingdom is becoming clear. Recent thinking is that perhaps 100% of all plants are either polyploids or are paleopolyploids (Lockton and Gaut 2005). In this paper our discussions will focus primarily on polyploidy within the legumes and more specifically, within Glycine max (soybean).