Male sterility and hybrid breeding in soybean

Abstract

Hybrid breeding can help us to meet the challenge of feeding a growing world population with limited agricultural land. The demand for soybean is expected to grow; however, the hybrid soybean is still in the process of commercialization even though considerable progress has been made in soybean genome and genetic studies in recent years. Here, we summarize recent advances in male sterility-based breeding programs and the current status of hybrid soybean breeding. A number of male-sterile lines with cytoplasmic male sterility (CMS), genic-controlled photoperiod/thermo-sensitive male sterility, and stable nuclear male sterility (GMS) have been identified in soybean. More than 40 hybrid soybean varieties have been bred using the CMS three-line hybrid system and the cultivation of hybrid soybean is still under way. The key to accelerating hybrid soybean breeding is to increase the out-crossing rate in an economical way. This review outlines current problems with the hybrid soybean breeding systems and explores the current efforts to make the hybrid soybean a commercial success.

Fine mapping of sterile genes in soybean (Glycine max [L.] Merril.) based on cross populations between multi‐elite parent and sterile lines ms1 and ms6

“…Currently, recessive single-gene controlled infertility lines are widely used in soybeans, and several genes have been mapped to specific sections of the chromosomes in soybeans, namely, msl (Yang et al, 2014), ms4 (Thu et al, 2019), ms5 (Ott et al, 2013), ms6 and ms7 (Yang et al, 2014), ms8 (Frasch et al, 2011), msMOS (Cervantes-Martinez et al, 2009, mst-M (Zhao et al, 2019) and msNJ (Nie et al, 2019). Among the germplasm genes mapped in soybean, only several genes had been cloned, including ms1 (Nadeem et al, 2021), ms4 (Thu et al, 2019), ms6 (Yu et al, 2021) and ms12 (Fang et al, 2023). Although great progress has been made for the mapping and cloning of sterile genes, most of the sterile genes were from soybean lines cultivated in warm growing regions.…”

“…[Color figure can be viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com]4.2 | Identification and functional analysis of candidate sterility genes in soybeanPlant male sterility, as an important utilization method of heterosis, has been the focus of research for a long time. Many sterility genes have been identified to underlie the biological function of pollen viability(Fang et al, 2023), suggesting that pollen viability is an important cause of sterility. To date, many male sterility genes have been discovered and cloned in soybean.…”

Advances in CRISPR/Cas9-based research related to soybean [Glycine max (Linn.) Merr] molecular breeding

“…Soybean is a significant source of vegetable proteins for humans and an important oilseed crop, making it a commercially valuable plant ( Zhang A, et al., 2023 ). More than 90% of the soybean plants cultivated in the three main soybean-producing countries (USA, Brazil, and Argentina) are genetically modified varieties generated using gene editing technology ( Fang et al., 2023 ). In terms of sustainable food production, the demand for soybeans has continued to increase because of the scarcity of arable land.…”

Flavonoid Biosynthesis Pathway May Indirectly Affect Outcrossing Rate of Cytoplasmic Male–Sterile Lines of Soybean

“…There has recently been substantial progress in the application of heterosis for soybean production in China, with 42 hybrids developed from 2002 to 2022 [6]. The outcrossing rate, which is the main factor affecting the propagation of soybean male-sterile lines, is closely related to the hybrid seed yield.…”