GmFtsH9 expression correlates with in vivo photosystem II function: chlorophyll a fluorescence transient analysis and eQTL mapping in soybean

Abstract

Filamentation temperature-sensitive H (FtsH) is an ATP-dependent zinc metalloprotease involved in diverse biological functions. There are 12 FtsH proteins in Arabidopsis, among which AtFtsH2 plays an important role in regulating the turnover of photosystem II (PSII) reaction center D1 protein and the development of the photosynthetic apparatus. Here, we have identified 11 FtsH genes in the soybean genome by a bioinformatics approach. These soybean FtsH genes corresponded to seven Arabidopsis FtsH genes, suggesting that the main characteristics of soybean FtsH genes were formed before the evolutionary split of soybean and Arabidopsis. Phylogenetic analyses allowed us to clone a soybean AtFtsH2-like gene designated as GmFtsH9. The predicted protein of GmFtsH9 consists of 690 amino acids and contains three typical FtsH proteins conserved domains. The expression level of GmFtsH9 was determined in a soybean recombinant inbred line population under a pot experiment conducted for measuring chlorophyll a fluorescence transient parameters, photosynthetic CO(2) fixation rate (P (N)), and seed yield. Expression quantitative trait loci (eQTL) mapping revealed two trans-acting eQTLs for GmFtsH9. The significant correlation of gene expression level with chlorophyll a fluorescence transient parameters and the presence of overlapping eQTL (QTL) between gene expression level and chlorophyll a fluorescence transient parameters indicated that GmFtsH9 could be involved in regulating PSII function. These results further lead to the understanding of the mechanism underlying FtsH gene expression, and contribute to the development of marker-assisted selection breeding programs for modulating soybean FtsH gene expression.

Functional properties and expression quantitative trait loci for phosphate transporter GmPT1 in soybean

“…Only the limiting factors that have a high correlation with the phenotypic traits and common QTLs would be detected (Yin et al . ). Although GmPT1 plays an important role in P‐starvation responses within the plants and Pi deficiency affects photosynthesis (Vance et al .…”

“…Plant productivity relies on photosynthesis, and the photosynthetic process depends on P-containing compounds in plants (Veneklaas et al 2012). Chlorophyll fluorescence parameters provide qualitative and quantitative information regarding the photosynthetic processes in chloroplasts, and they have been widely used in the study of PSII function (Papageorgiou & Govindjee 2004;Yin et al 2011). The efficient use of P in photosynthesis is a potentially important determinant of crop PUE (Veneklaas et al 2012).…”

“…However, no common QTL was found between GmPT1 expression levels and these traits. Only the limiting factors that have a high correlation with the phenotypic traits and common QTLs would be detected (Yin et al 2011). Although GmPT1 plays an important role in P-starvation responses within the plants and Pi deficiency affects photosynthesis (Vance et al 2003), P efficiency and PN and PSII function are co-regulated by a number of genes.…”

“…For almost any gene analysed in a segregating population, eQTL analysis can identify the genomic regions influencing the expression level. The genetical genomics approach has been widely employed for identifying eQTLs regulating gene expression (Potokina et al 2006;Sladek & Hudson 2006;Yin et al 2010aYin et al , 2011.…”

Expression quantitative trait loci infer the regulation of isoflavone accumulation in soybean (Glycine max L. Merr.) seed

“…Trans-eQTL could occur individually at a single genomic locus or could occur collectively as part of eQTL trans-bands [55]. This genomics approach has been employed to identify eQTL related genes in soybean [36, 56–58]. To date, no information concerning eQTLs underlying soybean isoflavone synthetic enzyme genes is available.…”