Identification of Soybean Genes Related to Soybean Seed Protein Content Based on Quantitative Trait Loci Collinearity Analysis

Increasing
the protein content of soybean seeds through a higher
ratio of glycinin is important for soybean breeding and food processing;
therefore, the integration of different quantitative trait loci (QTLs)
is of great significance. In this study, we investigated the collinearity
of seed protein QTLs. We identified 192 collinear protein QTLs that
formed six hotspot regions. The two most important regions had seed
protein 36-10 and seed protein 36-20 as hub nodes. We used a chromosome
segment substitution line (CSSL) population for QTL validation and
identified six CSSL materials with collinear QTLs. Five materials
with higher protein and glycinin contents in comparison to the recurrent
parent were analyzed. A total of 13 candidate genes related to seed
protein from the QTL hotspot intervals were detected, 8 of which had
high expression in mature soybean seeds. These results offer a new
analysis method for molecular-assisted selection (MAS) and improvement
of soybean product quality.