Genetic differentiation and diversity of phenotypic characters in Chinese wild soybean (Glycine soja Sieb. et Zucc.) revealed by nuclear SSR markers and the implication for intraspecies phylogenic relationship of characters

Abstract

Genetic diversity is reduced from wild soybean to cultivars and from landraces to modern varieties. However, intraspecies genetic diversity loss between characters or phenotypes also existed in wild soybean. We revealed the phylogenic relationship of character types in Chinese wild soybean using 42 SSR markers. We conjectured that white flower, no-seed bloom, grey pubescence, and four seed coat colours were evolutionarily acquired phenotypes. There were a small decrease (DH = 0.1-6.46%) of gene diversity and a moderate reduction (DNa = 10.81-53.54%) of number of alleles but a violent loss (80.74-98.59%) of unique alleles in the acquired phenotypes. Our results seemed to suggest that ovoid and elliptic leaves were differentiated at the earliest and subsequently lanceolate leaf appeared before the domestication of soybeans within wild soybean, and that G. gracilis type was another earliest type, maybe emerged since the appearance of soybeans or it was concomitant with the domestication of soybean.

Cadmium stress in Dongying wild soybean seedlings: growth, Cd accumulation, and photosynthesis

“…--- (Wang et al 2011). The cultivated soybean, as the main food crop in the world, has been reported to be Cd sensitive (Finger-Teixeira et al 2010).…”

“…Wild soybean, the direct precursor of cultivated soybean, widely populates the East Asian continent and the Japanese archipelago (He et al 2016). A wide spectrum of ecological and morphological types of Chinese wild soybean has been observed (Wang et al 2001), which provides an original source of information on genes and traits for cultivating and breeding soybeans (Wang et al 2011). The genetic base of wild soybean demonstrates biological diversity and evidence of eminent resistance genes and serves as an important germplasm resource for genetic improvement of cultivated soybean.…”

Morphological and genetic variations of Sophora davidii populations originating from different altitudes in the mountains of southwestern China

“…Furthermore, the distribution of genetic variation along altitudinal gradients is known to be the result of the interplay of gene flow and genetic drift. Gene flow among populations increases the variation within and decreases the variation between populations, while drift acts reciprocally (Bellucci et al, 2011;Nestmann et al, 2011;Wang and Li, 2011). Considering this fact, isolation by mountains is likely to be the reason for the observed pattern of genetic variation.…”

Genetic diversity of Ceratoides arborescens, a species endemic to China, detected by inter-simple sequence repeat (ISSR)

“…Therefore, the present low level of genetic differentiation among populations could be largely attributed to several factors. First, the mode of pollen and seed dispersal, which determines the N m among populations (Li et al, 2009a;Bellucci et al, 2011;Nestmann et al, 2011;Wang and Li, 2011), can facilitate N m among populations, minimizing the population differentiation. Many studies have demonstrated that wind-pollinated and wind-dispersed species exhibit low levels of genetic differentiation (Li et al, 2009b;Adamski et al, 2012;Thomas et al, 2012), approaching the levels observed in C. arborescens.…”