Abstract
BackgroundChlorophyll is a major component of chloroplasts and a better understanding of the genetic basis of chlorophyll in soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] might contribute to improving photosynthetic capacity and yield in regions with adverse environmental conditions. A collection of 332 diverse soybean genotypes were grown in 2 years (2009 and 2010) and chlorophyll a (eChl_A), chlorophyll b (eChl_B), and total chlorophyll (eChl_T) content as well as chlorophyll a/b ratio (eChl_R) in leaf tissues were determined by extraction and spectrometric determination. Total chlorophyll was also derived from canopy spectral reflectance measurements using a model of wavelet transformed spectra (tChl_T) as well as with a spectral reflectance index (iChl_T).ResultsA genome-wide associating mapping approach was employed using 31,253 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) to identify loci associated with the extract based eChl_A, eChl_B, eChl_R and eChl_T measurements and the two canopy spectral reflectance-based methods (tChl_T and iChl_T). A total of 23 (14 loci), 15 (7 loci) and 14 SNPs (10 loci) showed significant association with eChl_A, eChl_B and eChl_R respectively. A total of 52 unique SNPs were significantly associated with total chlorophyll content based on at least one of the three approaches (eChl_T, tChl_T and iChl_T) and likely tagged 27 putative loci for total chlorophyll content, four of which were indicated by all three approaches.ConclusionsResults presented here show that markers for chlorophyll traits can be identified in soybean using both extract-based and canopy spectral reflectance-based phenotypes, and confirm that high-throughput phenotyping-amenable canopy spectral reflectance measurements can be used for association mapping.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12870-016-0861-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Highlights
Chlorophyll is a major component of chloroplasts and a better understanding of the genetic basis of chlorophyll in soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] might contribute to improving photosynthetic capacity and yield in regions with adverse environmental conditions
Photosynthesis during the reproductive stages is positively correlated with crop yield, and improving the photosynthetic capacity of leaves has been suggested as a way to increase crop yields [3, 4]
Given that total chlorophyll is a function of chlorophyll a and chlorophyll b, the correlations of extractable chlorophyll a (eChl_A) and extract-based chlorophyll b (eChl_B) with extract-based total chlorophyll (eChl_T) were positive and very strong (Table 2)
Summary
Chlorophyll is a major component of chloroplasts and a better understanding of the genetic basis of chlorophyll in soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] might contribute to improving photosynthetic capacity and yield in regions with adverse environmental conditions. In contrast to extract-based methods, spectral reflectance characteristics of plant tissue can be assessed across a broad range of spatial scales from sub-leaf to plant and field levels. Spectral reflectance based methods have attracted much attention for high-throughput plant phenotyping [14, 23,24,25]. Given their role in light absorption, leaf and/or canopy spectral reflectance based methods are promising for the assessment of chlorophylls [14, 16, 26]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
