Soybean adaptation to high-latitude regions is associated with natural variations of GmFT2b, an ortholog of Flowering Locus T

Reference Report for AP20210628.7

Title:	Soybean adaptation to high-latitude regions is associated with natural variations of GmFT2b, an ortholog of Flowering Locus T
Authors:	Chen, L., Cai, Y., Qu, M., Wang, L., Sun , H., Jiang, B., Wu, T., Liu, L., Sun, S., Wu, C., Yao, W., Yuan, S., Han, T., Hou, W.
Source:	Chen et al. 2020 Plant Cell Environ., 43:934-944
Abstract:	Day length has an important influence on flowering and growth habit in many plant species. In crops such as soybean, photoperiod sensitivity determines the geographical range over which a given cultivar can grow and flower. The soybean genome contains ~10 genes homologous toFT, a central regulator of flowering fromArabidopsis thaliana. However, the precise roles of these soybeanFTsare not clearly. Here we show that one such gene,GmFT2b, promotes flowering under long-days (LDs). Overexpression ofGmFT2bupregulates expression of flowering-related genes which are important in regulating flowering time. We propose a weight model for soybean flowering under short-day (SD) and LD conditions. Furthermore, we examineGmFT2bsequences in 195 soybean cultivars, as well as flowering phenotypes, geographical distributions and maturity groups. We found that Hap3, a majorGmFT2bhaplotype, is associated with significantly earlier flowering at higher latitudes. We anticipate our assay to provide important resources for the genetic improvement of soybean, including new germplasm for soybean breeding, and also increase our understanding of functional diversity in the soybeanFTgene family.

Funded by the USDA-ARS. Developed by the USDA-ARS SoyBase and Legume Clade Database group at the Iowa State University, Ames, IA

U.S. Public Domain