Much effort has been expended to find agronomically important QTLs for improving soybean yield. However, the complexity of genome, such as genome duplication, limits the utility of genome-wide association studies and linkage analyses to identify genes controlling yield traits. We propose the variation block method, a three-step process for recombination block detection and comparison. The first step is to detect variations by comparing short-read DNA sequences of the cultivar to a reference genome of the target crop. Next, sequence blocks with variation patterns are examined and defined. The boundaries between the variation-containing sequence blocks are regarded as recombination sites. All the assumed recombination sites in the cultivar set are used to split the genomes, and the resulting sequence regions are named as variation blocks. The practicality of this approach was demonstrated by the identification of a putative locus determining soybean hilum color and known genes such as flower color gene. We suggest that the variation block method is an efficient genomics method for recombination block-level comparison of crop genomes. We expect that this method holds the prospect of developing crop genomics by bringing genomics technology to the field of crop breeding.

Potato glycoalkaloids(PGAs) are potentially toxic to humans at high levels and current safety regulations have recommended that PGAs content in tubers of potato cultivars should not exceed 20 mg/100g·FW. Accordingly, it is important to determine the PGAs composition and levels on potato cultivars for food safty and the breeding for new cultivars with low levels of PGAs. The main aim of this study was to evaluate α-chaconine, α-solanine and total PGAs content in the peel and cortex portions in 24 cultivars including ‘Haryoung’, ‘Goun’, ‘Hongyoung’ and ‘Jayoung’, recently released by Highland Agricultural Research Institute. The total PGAs ranged from 3.1 to 10.1 mg/100g·FW. 75-94% of total PGAs was existed in the peel part of all cultivars. We selected two cultivars, which can be eaten wth the skin on tubers, and so used for soy sauce braised potatoes and baby potatoes for the rest area. These results will provide consumers and breeders with fundamental information about the content of PGAs in Korea major cultivars.

PGA 함량 정보가 없는 유전자원을 활용한 다양한 용도의 감자 품종 개발은 괴경 내 PGA 함량을 높이는 비의도적 결과를 초래할 가능성이 있다. 이러한 배경에서 신품종에 대한 정밀한 PGA 함량 분석은 감자의 식품안전성 제고와 PGA 저 함유 품종 개발을 위한 교배 모부본 확보차원에서 중요하다. 본 연구에서는 도입품종인 대서, 수미와 최근 개발된 하령, 고운, 홍영, 자영 4품종을 대상으로 괴경 부위, 저장기간별 PGA 함량변화를 분석하였다. 그 연구 결과를 요약하면 다음과 같다.