Excellence in Research: Genomic Characterization of Seed Filling and Nutritional Features in Edamame and Mature Soybeans

大豆是世界上种植最广泛的农作物之一，在粮食安全和国际贸易中具有重要作用。它为人类消费提供了植物蛋白和油的主要来源，也为动物饲料提供了蛋白粉。毛豆是北美相对较新的一种蔬菜大豆，在绿豆阶段收获，直接用于减肥菜肴或零食。种子灌浆和营养特性对作物产量和产品质量至关重要。该项目将阐明毛豆和成熟大豆种子灌浆的生物学和基因组特征以及营养成分，并将确定与目标性状相关的基因组变异和因果候选基因。将使用快速高效的评估和遗传分析技术。这些方法和研究成果将用于改进STEM教育，包括学生和下一代科学家培训以及课程教学，并通过向不同利益攸关方展示来提高公众的科学素养和参与度。此外，该项目还将有助于粮食作物、蔬菜和水果品种的相关研究。这一结果将对广泛的研究和公众群体具有价值。种子灌浆代表着一种受基因控制的经济上重要的复杂性状，涉及许多功能基因和/或代谢途径。初步观察表明，毛豆具有很高的遗传变异性，这有助于大豆遗传多样性。该项目的目标是通过对毛豆和成熟大豆性状的基因组分析，阐明调节种子组成和灌浆的潜在遗传结构和分子机制。该项目将具体解决：1)种子灌浆的生物学和基因组特征，包括大豆的灌浆持续时间、灌浆速率和种子大小；2)建立高通量的大豆营养成分特性的表型鉴定方法，并应用该方法表征种子的营养成分(蛋白质、油、纤维、蔗糖等)。对毛豆和成熟大豆进行遗传分析；3)基于对不同种质材料和育种系的分析，检测与种子灌浆和种子成分调控相关的基因组特征、QTL和/或候选基因；以及4)研究这些性状的主要基因组决定因素在现代大豆人工选择中的作用。将使用两个大群体的种质资源和具有高多样性的育种系，并将采用全基因组关联研究和全基因组测序。随着成果的公布，生成的数据集供公众使用，以及博士后和学生的培训，该项目将对社会产生广泛和可持续的影响和好处。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Soybean is one of the most widely grown crops worldwide and has an important role in food security and international trade. It provides a major source of plant protein and oil for human consumption as well as protein meal for animal feeds. Edamame is a vegetable soybean relatively new to North America that is harvested at the green bean stage and directly used for diet dishes or snacks. Seed filling and nutritional features are crucial for crop yield and product quality. This project will elucidate the biological and genomic features of seed filling as well as nutritional composition in edamame and mature soybeans and will identify genomic variants and causal candidate genes associated with the target traits. Rapid and efficient techniques of evaluation and genetic analysis will be used. The methodologies and research results will be used to improve STEM education, including student and next-generation scientist training as well as course teaching, and increase public scientific literacy and engagement through a showcase to different stakeholders. In addition, this project will benefit related research in grain crops, vegetables, and fruit species. The results will be valuable to a broad research and public community.Seed filling represents an economically important complex trait under genetic control that involves many functional genes and/or metabolism pathways. Preliminary observations indicate that edamame has a high level of genetic variability that contributes to soybean genetic diversity. The goal of this project is to elucidate the underlying genetic architecture and molecular mechanisms regulating seed composition and seed filling through genomic analysis of the traits in both edamame and mature soybeans. The project will specifically address: 1) biological and genomic characterization of seed filling including seed filling duration, filling rate and seed size in soybean; 2) development of a high throughput phenotyping methodology for evaluating soybean nutritional composition traits and application of the methodology to characterize seed nutritional composition (protein, oil, fiber sucrose, etc.) in edamame and mature soybeans; 3) detection of genomic features, QTL, and/or candidate genes associated with seed filling and seed composition regulation based on the analysis of diverse germplasm accessions and breeding lines which will be sequenced; and 4) investigation of the roles of the major genomic determinants of the traits in the artificial selection of modern soybeans. Two large populations of germplasm accessions and breeding lines with high diversity will be used, and genome-wide association study (GWAS) and whole genome sequencing will be employed. Along with the publication of achieved results, the generated datasets for public access, and the training of post-doc and students, this project will have a broad and sustainable impact and benefit to society.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.