Yan-fei Li; Liya Zhang; Jun Wang; Xing Wang; Shiyu Guo; Ze-jun Xu; Delin Li; Zhangxiong Liu; Ying-hui Li; Bin Liu; & Li-juan Qiu

Plant Biotechnology Journal; 2023; IF 13.8

DOI: 10.1111/pbi.14254.

ABSTRACT

Soybean is a short-day plant that typically flowers earlier when exposed to short-day conditions. However, the identification of genes associated with earlier flowering time but without a yield penalty is rare. In this study, we conducted genome-wide association studies (GWAS) using two re-sequencing datasets that included 113 wild soybeans (G. soja) and 1192 cultivated soybeans (G.max), respectively, and simultaneously identified a candidate flowering gene,  qFT13-3 , which encodes a protein homologous to the pseudo-response regulator (PRR) transcription factor. We identified four major haplotypes of  qFT13-3  in the natural population, with haplotype H4 ( qFT13-3  ^H4 ) being lost during domestication, while  qFT13-3  ^H1  underwent natural and artificial selection, increasing in proportion from 4.5% in G. soja to 43.8% in landrace and to 81.9% in improve cultivars. Notably, most cultivars harbouring  qFT13-3  ^H1  were located in high-latitude regions. Knockout of  qFT13-3  accelerated flowering and maturity time under long-day conditions, indicating that qFT13-3 functions as a flowering inhibitor. Our results also showed that  qFT13-3  directly downregulates the expression of  GmELF3b-2  which is a component of the circadian clock evening complex. Field trials revealed that the  qft13-3  mutants shorten the maturity period by 11 days without a concomitant penalty on yield. Collectively,  qFT13-3  can be utilized for the breeding of high-yield cultivars with a short maturity time suitable for high latitudes.