Abstract
Domesticated crops suffer from major genetic bottlenecks while wild relatives retain higher genomic diversity. Wild soybean (Glycine soja Sieb. & Zucc.) is the presumed ancestor of cultivated soybean (Glycine max [L.] Merr.), and is an important genetic resource for soybean improvement. Among the East Asian habitats of wild soybean (China, Japan, Korea, and Northeastern Russia), the Korean peninsula is of great importance based on archaeological records, domestication history, and higher diversity of wild soybeans in the region. The collection and conservation of these wild soybean germplasms should be put on high priority. Chung’s Wild Legume Germplasm Collection maintains more than 10,000 legume accessions with an intensive and prioritized wild soybean germplasm collection (>6000 accessions) guided by the international code of conduct for plant germplasm collection and transfer. The center holds a library of unique wild soybean germplasms collected from East Asian wild habitats including the Korean mainland and nearby islands. The collection has revealed interesting and useful morphological, biochemical, and genetic diversity. This resource could be utilized efficiently in ongoing soybean improvement programs across the globe.
Highlights
Soybean (Glycine max [L.] Merr.) is an economically important legume worldwide with diverse applications in food, feed, and biofuel industries [1,2]
Cultivated soybeans have lower adaptive potential to climatic changes and reduced genetic diversity when compared to wild soybeans [3,17]
Preliminary assessments of germplasm conservation in many parts of the world have revealed substantial gaps, which should be filled by expanding the collection of wild soybean germplasm resources from the main distribution areas [20,21]
Summary
Soybean (Glycine max [L.] Merr.) is an economically important legume worldwide with diverse applications in food, feed, and biofuel industries [1,2]. The taxonomic and phylogenetic knowledge based on the concept of gene pools provides important information for wild x cultivated soybean hybridization. The wild relatives of cultivated soybean, are mainly found in East Asia [15] They harbor abundant and unique gene/allele resources, due to their widespread distributions in complex geographic topographies with diverse microclimates [16]. Cultivated soybeans have lower adaptive potential to climatic changes and reduced genetic diversity when compared to wild soybeans [3,17]. Preliminary assessments of germplasm conservation in many parts of the world have revealed substantial gaps, which should be filled by expanding the collection of wild soybean germplasm resources from the main distribution areas [20,21] Such efforts are being adopted by many countries and germplasm centers around the globe, including Korea, which is one of the main distribution areas of wild soybeans
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