The wild side of a major crop: soybean's perennial cousins from Down Under.

The accumulation of over 30 years of basic research on the biology, genetic variation, and evolution of the wild perennial relatives of soybean (Glycine max) provides a foundation to improve cultivated soybean. The cultivated soybean and its wild progenitor, G. soja, have a center of origin in eastern Asia and are the only two species in the annual subgenus Soja. Systematic and evolutionary studies of the ca. 30 perennial species of subgenus Glycine, native to Australia, have benefited from the availability of the G. max genomic sequence. The perennial species harbor many traits of interest to soybean breeders, among them resistance to major soybean pathogens such as cyst nematode and leaf rust. New species in the Australian subgenus continue to be described, due to the collection of new material and to insights gleaned through systematic studies of accessions in germplasm collections. Ongoing studies in perennial species focus on genomic regions that contain genes for key traits relevant to soybean breeding. These comparisons also include the homoeologous regions that are the result of polyploidy in the common ancestor of all Glycine species. Subgenus Glycine includes a complex of recently formed allopolyploids that are the focus of studies aimed at elucidating genomic, transcriptomic, physiological, taxonomic, morphological, developmental, and ecological processes related to polyploid evolution. Here we review what has been learned over the past 30 years and outline ongoing work on photosynthesis, nitrogen fixation, and floral biology, much of it drawing on new technologies and resources.

Genomes, multiple origins, and lineage recombination in the Glycine tomentella (Leguminosae) polyploid complex: histone H3-D gene sequences.

Relationships among the various diploid and polyploid taxa that comprise Glycine tomentella have been hypothesized from crossing studies, isozyme data, and repeat length variation for the 5S nuclear ribosomal gene loci. However, several key questions have persisted, and detailed phylogenetic evidence from homoeologous nuclear genes has been lacking. The histone H3-D locus is single copy in diploid Glycine species and has been used to elucidate relationships among diploid races of G. tomentella, providing a framework for testing genome origins in the polyploid complex. For all six G. tomentella polyploid races (T1-T6), alleles at two homoeologous histone H3-D loci were isolated and analyzed phylogenetically with alleles from diploid Glycine species, permitting the identification of all of the homoeologous genomes of the complex. Allele networks were constructed to subdivide groups of homoeologous alleles further, and two-locus genotypes were constructed using these allele classes. Results suggest that some races have more than one origin and that interfertility within races has led to lineage recombination. Most alleles in polyploids are identical or closely related to alleles in diploids, suggesting recency of polyploid origins and spread beyond Australia. These features parallel the other component of the Glycine subgenus Glycine polyploid complex, G. tabacina, one of whose races shares a diploid genome with a G. tomentella polyploid race.

Isolation and characterization of thirteen polymorphic microsatellite loci in the A-genome perennial group of the legume genus Glycine.

Thirteen polymorphic microsatellite loci were developed for the closely related and reproductively compatible species comprising the A-genome perennial group of the legume genus Glycine. Primers developed from the widespread and isozymically differentiated G. canescens amplified successfully across G. clandestina and four other species within the complex. Species were highly polymorphic, and observed heterozygosities were extremely low for all loci, as expected for these predominantly autogamous taxa. These markers will be useful in studying genetic variation, population structure, gene flow, and polyploidy within the A-genome group.

A CHLOROPLAST-DNA PHYLOGENY OF THE WILD PERENNIAL RELATIVES OF SOYBEAN (GLYCINE SUBGENUS GLYCINE): CONGRUENCE WITH MORPHOLOGICAL AND CROSSING GROUPS.

Hypotheses of evolutionary relationships among the Australian wild perennial relatives of soybean (Glycine subgenus Glycine) are based largely on patterns of meiotic pairing in intra- and interspecific experimental hybrids. This evidence has indicated a number of genome groupings within the subgenus but has not resolved most phylogenetic relationships. Restriction-endonuclease site variation of chloroplast DNA (cpDNA) within the perennial subgenus is reported here, representing a sampling of approximately 3% of the approximately 150-kilobase plastome. Seven hundred twenty-one unique restriction sites were compared within Glycine using 29 restriction endonucleases; 157 sites varied within the genus. Distance and parsimony methods using these data yielded congruent results, recognizing the existence of three major groups within subgenus Glycine: the species-rich and geographically diverse A clade consisting of G. canescens and related taxa; the B clade, which includes the stoloniferous species; and the C group, containing two species with distinctive curved pods. These results are in general agreement with hypotheses based on genome analysis; inconsistencies involve the inclusion of genetically divergent taxa such as G. falcata in well-supported plastome clades comprised of otherwise interfertile species. Such findings are not unexpected if crossing barriers are considered to be unique features of such anomalous species, paralleling their often numerous morphological and cpDNA autapomorphies. Consideration of cpDNA divergence within the three major clades of subgenus Glycine indicates that the rate of plastome evolution is uncoupled from rates of morphological or ecological diversification.