Multiple Origins of Chalcone Synthase Short Interfering RNAs in Glycine max Revealed by Genome Assemblies of Mutant Alleles

With long-read assemblies, we delineate three origins of short interfering RNAs for chalcone synthase (CHS siRNAs) in Glycine max. Mutations from ii (yellow seed coat with black hilum) to i (fully pigmented) lack either a single antisense CHS1 gene by deletion or the partial 5’ subtilisin fragment-CHS1 gene region by a large inversion mutation. On the other hand, we show that the dominant I allele, with fully yellow seed coats, arose from the i black, wild soybean genome by an inverted duplication that places a partial 5’ DnaJ fragment next to slightly truncated CHS genes. In a direct I to i mutation, the two CHS genes are further truncated, destroying their capacity to produce siRNAs. The two-color saddle pattern of the ik allele arose by an inverted duplication event that places a partial 5’ P450 fragment in front of two inverted repeat CHS genes. Despite the importance of the three different 5’ promoters that abut inverted repeat CHS genes as drivers of precursor expression, the profiles of cognate gene family members for subtilisin, DnaJ, and P450 are not always limited to the seed coat as tightly as CHS siRNAs, implying that transcriptional or processing events for CHS dsRNA or siRNAs differ in other tissues. High-throughput RNA sequencing was performed on different tissues and genotypes of soybean as listed in each sample. High-throughput RNA sequencing was performed on dissections of the hilum versus the seed coat without the hilum for two stages of seed coat development with two biological repeats from the cultivar Williams which has black hilum on a yellow seed coat.