Soybean Salt Tolerance Gene Found

A gene which confers salt tolerance has been isolated from the wild soybean plant.

AsianScientist (Jul 14, 2014) – A team of researchers has identified a gene of wild soybean linked to salt tolerance, which could improving the ability of this important crop to grow in saline soil. This study has been published in the journal Nature Communications.

Due to domestication and human selection, cultivated soybeans have less genetic diversity than their wild counterparts. Among the genes lost, some may play important roles for the adaptation to different environments. In this study, scientists used wild soybean as a resource for investigating the valuable genes that adapt to certain environmental conditions.

Researchers from the Chinese University of Hong Kong, BGI and Kazusa DNA Research Institute, Japan sequenced and assembled a draft genome of wild soybean W05. They then developed a recombinant inbred population for genotyping-by-sequencing and phenotypic analyses to identify multiple traits of interest in agriculture. Using the de novo sequencing data from this work and previous germplasm re-sequencing data, the team discovered a novel ion transporter gene, GmCHX1, which could be related to salt tolerance.

When the gene GmCHX1 was introduced into other strains of soybean, the plants showed improved salt tolerance. Further investigation suggested that GmCHX1 acted through lowering the ratio of sodium ions to potassium ions. Based on their results, the authors propose that the elimination of GmCHX1 in salt-sensitive germplasms may be an example of negative selection against a stress tolerance gene in unstressed environments. The expression of stress tolerance genes may be an energy burden on the plant if the functions of these genes are not required.

Through this study, researchers developed an efficient strategy using the combination of whole-genome de novo sequencing, high-density-marker quantitative trait loci mapping by re-sequencing, and functional analyses. This method could enhance the efficiency of discovering genes for beneficial traits in agriculturally important crops.

The article can be found at: Qi et al. (2014) Identification of a Novel Salt Tolerance Gene in Wild Soybean by Whole-Genome Sequencing.

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Source: BGI; Photo: shraddha chaudhari/Flickr/CC.
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