Abstract
There is a considerable demand for crop improvement, especially considering the increasing growth of world population, continuing climatic fluctuations, and rapidly evolving plant pests and pathogens. Crop wild relatives hold great potential in providing beneficial alleles for crop improvement. Wild soybean, Glycine soja (Siebold & Zucc.), the wild ancestor to the domesticated soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr.), harbors a high level of genetic variation. Research on G. soja has been largely devoted to understanding the domestication history of the soybean, while little effort has been made to explore its genetic diversity for crop improvement. High genomic diversity and expanded traits make G. soja populations an excellent source for soybean improvement. This review summarizes recent successful research examples of applying wild soybeans in dissecting the genetic basis of various traits, with a focus on abiotic/biotic stress tolerance and resistance. We also discuss the limitations of using G. soja. Perspective future research is proposed, including the application of advanced biotechnology and emerging genomic data to further utilize the wild soybean to counterbalance the rising demand for superior crops. We proposed there is an urgent need for international collaboration on germplasm collection, resource sharing, and conservation. We hope to use the wild soybean as an example to promote the exploration and use of wild resources for crop improvement in order to meet future food requirements.
Highlights
Reviewed by: Francesca Sparvoli, Istituto di Biologia e Biotecnologia Agraria (IBBA), Italy Michael Benjamin Kantar, University osf Hawaii, United States
Research on G. soja has been largely devoted to understanding the domestication history of the soybean, while little effort has been made to explore its genetic diversity for crop improvement
Soybean yield per acre has increased by approximately 40% in the last quarter century and production has more than doubled (1990–2015) (USDA, 2016), current soybean yield potential is restricted by the narrow genetic variation in G. max, hindering the potential for breeding soybean varieties with high environmental stress tolerance and resistance traits
Summary
Cultivated soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr.) is an economically important crop grown world-wide with diverse uses in oil and protein consumption for human and livestock, as well as feedstock for biofuel production. Soybean yield per acre has increased by approximately 40% in the last quarter century and production has more than doubled (1990–2015) (USDA, 2016), current soybean yield potential is restricted by the narrow genetic variation in G. max, hindering the potential for breeding soybean varieties with high environmental stress tolerance and resistance traits. These concerns regarding the current cultivars are increasing because of the ecological changes. We will discuss genomic diversity and the current research in G. soja, and we present a potential step forward in our application of G. soja to improve G. max
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