Cultivated soybean (Glycine. max [L.] Merr.) was domesticated from wild soybean (G. soja Sieb. & Zucc.) in China over a period of 5000 years, and then widely spread all over the world. Soybean has been a major, multiuse crop that globally makes up 56% of the oilseed production and more than 25% of the protein used in food and animal feed. With the increase of world population and the change of diet structure, the global demand for soybean is increasing year by year. Thus, breeding soybeans with higher efficiency is urgently needed.
Recently, a research team led by Prof. Tian Zhixi at the Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology (IGDB) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) has cooperated with MolBreeding Biotechnology Co., Ltd. to develop a 40K GenoBaits genotyping array in purpose of assisting soybean breeding and genetic study. The GenoBaits Soy40K was designed according to the 27 soybeans pan-genome, 2,898 accession variation data and 49 function-aware genes.
Character of GenoBaits Soy40K array and its application scenario (Image by IGDB)
This genotyping platform well reflected the genetic structure of soybean and performed well in analysis such as gene/QTL mapping and genome-wide association analysis (GWAS). The GenoBaits Soy40K array would be used to breed/improve soybean varieties with excellent comprehensive agronomic traits by the molecular design breeding for the above 49 function-aware genes, especially co-regulatory genes.
The GenoBaits Soy40K array designed with GBTS system, which was more flexible and low-cost in genotyping practice. Along with the 40K sites array, there are a series of products with 20K, 10K and 5K and foreground sites for different demands.
The paper entitled "GenoBaits Soy40K: a highly flexible and low-cost SNP array for soybean studies" was published online in Science China Life Sciences (DOI:10.1007/s11427-022-2130-8) on May 20, 2022.
This research was supported by the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (XDA24030501), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31788103), and the Modern Seed Industry Science and Technology Innovation Team of Hebei Province (21326313D-4).
Contact:
Dr. Tian Zhixi
Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Email: zxtian@genetics.ac.cn