Applied genomics toward targeted improvement of soybean

The abundance of genomic data produced by the research community in the last decade has offered an unprecedented view into the variation present in the soybean genome and has been exploited to uncover the genetic architecture of important agronomic traits. In this work, I utilized resequence and genetic marker data to show the geographic distribution of natural variation in the E1La gene and that it likely played a major role in migration of wild soybean to higher latitudes. I further demonstrated that this variant allele could be utilized to promote maturity in both an e1-as and E1 background. An induced mutation of the E1Lb gene also promoted maturity, although its effect was only observed in an e1-as background. By pooling together resequenced accessions from several published works, I developed a catalogue containing an allele for every gene in the genome of > 1000 soybean accessions. Using latitude of origination as a proxy for relative flowering time, I tested > 100 soybean orthologues of Arabidopsis flowering genes for their allele distribution among the subset of US cultivars in this catalogue and identified eight candidate genes likely playing a role in reproductive timing of US soybean. I also used this resource to compare the allele composition of these US cultivars to 16 of the major North American ancestor lines from which they are derived. From this analysis, I highlighted regions of the genome which have experienced artificial selection during US breeding efforts and found that over 60 percent of genes are fixed or nearly fixed for a single allele. Taken together, these data will facilitate breeder selection for appropriate maturity in their programs and define a framework for identifying regions of genetic variation and fixation in their germplasm.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph. D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Doctoral

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Plant insect and microbial sciences (MU)

Grantor dc:publisher

University of Missouri--Columbia

Year dc:date.issued

2021

Author dc:creator

• Dietz, Nicholas Andrew

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Bilyeu, Kristin

Language dc:language.iso

eng, English

DOI

https://doi.org/10.32469/10355/93225

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:mospace.umsystem.edu:10355/93225