Glycine max Transcriptome or Gene expression

Soybean (Glycine max L.) is a major crop providing an important source of protein and oil, which can also be converted into biodiesel. Soybean can also derive its nitrogen supply from the atmosphere through its symbiotic interaction with the soil bacterium Bradyrhizobium japonicum, which results in the formation of a novel root organ, the nodule. A major milestone in soybean research was the recent sequencing of the complete soybean genome. The sequence predicts up to 69145 putative soybean transcripts. In order to examine the expression of these various transcripts, we utilized the Illumina Solexa platform to sequence cDNA derived from 14 distinct conditions (tissues) (Libault et al., 2010a and b). The result is a searchable soybean gene expression atlas. The availability of the soybean gene expression atlas should facilitate both basic and applied aspects of soybean research.