Transcriptome analysis of differentially expressed genes in different pod dehiscence characteristics of soybean

Pod dehiscence is an important agronomic trait. Pod dehiscence would cause huge yield losses before soybean maturity. Although some of soybean pod dehiscence associated genes have been identified, the underlying mechanism of pod dehiscence is still not comprehensively explained. In this study, we have identified differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between shattering-resistant and shattering-susceptible soybean accessions based on transcriptome analyses of 10 soybean accessions. Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) that may be involved in soybean pod dehiscence were also identified, and we constructed co-expression networks between mRNAs and lncRNAs. RNA sequencing results were further verified by real-time PCR. Furthermore, DEGs were screened through analyzing positions of soybean pod dehiscence quantitative trait locus (QTLs) and phenotypes of soybean pod dehiscence for achieving pod-dehiscence candidate genes. Overall design: High-depth paired-end RNA-seq from pods of soybeans