A Functional Genomics Approach to Identifying Potential Candidates Underlying the E7 Maturity Locus in Soybean (Glycine max)

Soybean (Glycine max) is a valuable crop, with benefits attributed to its high protein and oil content, in addition to its nitrogen fixating capabilities. To expand production across Canada, breeding programs will need the availability of markers attributed to desired traits, including time of flowering and maturity. The E7 locus is among the 11 maturity loci identified in this pathway, whose underlying gene remains unknown. Using functional genomics resources, and a computational approach utilizing PIPE (Protein-protein Interaction Prediction Engine), this region was narrowed to a short-list of candidates, including 3 promising candidates: Glyma.06G200400, Glyma.06G200800, and Glyma.06G220000. From the expression analysis performed to date, Glyma.06G199800 and Glyma.06G233300 were found to have a significant change in expression between the E7/e7 lines in contrasting flowering stages during long-day (LD) photoperiod. However, additional expression analysis on the remaining candidates, along with further experimentation needs to be performed to reveal the underlying gene for E7.