A single recessive gene, rxp, controls bacterial leaf pustule (BLP) resistance in a soybean. The Rxp locus appears to be linked to the malate dehydrogenase (Mdh) locus and Satt372 on linkage group (LG) D2. Around the Rxp locus, four bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) clones are anchored by Satt486, Satt498, BARC-022037-04263, and BARC-040963-07870. Using these BAC clone sequences, possible orthologous region of Rxp locus was identified: Medicago truncatula contig 962 at chromosome 3 and contig 283 and contig 1108 at chromosome 8. Sequence analysis of contig 962 had revealed microsynteny with three soybean BAC clones on LG A1, which are duplicated with other two soybean BAC clones anchored by Satt486 and Satt498. After BLAST search was performed with M. truncatula contig 962 against soybean ESTs, several soybean ESTs were identified. With developed single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers and the RIL population from the cross of Pureunkong and Jinpumkong 2, SNP genotyping was able to locate twos oybean ESTs: CO979743 at 1 cM away from Satt195 on LG C1 and BE021935 at 5 cM away from Satt363 on LG C2. Thus, our results indicate that structure of soybean genome around Rxp locus is very complicated.

Improvement of crop yield can be achieved through understanding genetic variation in reproductive characters and its impact on yield components. The present study was performed to evaluate genetic diversity for reproductive growth characters in exotic germplasm resources and to determine the relationships between developmental and growth periods with yield and yield components in soybean cultivar groups. For phenotypic evaluation such as reproductive and agronomic traits, a total of 80 indigenous and exotic soybean cultivars collected from four different geographical regions (China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam) were grown from May to November of 2003 at the Seoul National University Farm, Suwon, Korea (127~circ02 longitude, 37~circ26 latitude). Most of all the characters exhibited wide range of phenotypic variation, of which pod number, seed number, and plant yield showed greater range as compared to other characters. Korean cultivar groups showed greater diversity than the other cultivar groups in seven characters. Correlation analysis showed that days to flowering (DTF) and days to maturity (DTM) had close association with agronomic traits as well as yield and yield components. Both DTF and DTM had positive correlation with the other characters except one hundred seed weight. Stepwise multiple linear regression revealed that seed and pod number were identified as being significant for plant yield. The results in this study indicated wide variation in agronomic traits including DTF and DTM, suggesting the valuable genetic resources in a soybean breeding program.

Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) are valuable DNA markers due to their abundance and potential for use in automated high-throughput genotyping. Numerous SNP genotyping assays have been developed. In this report, one of effective and high throughput SNP genotyping assays, which was named the template-directed dye-terminator incorporation with fluorescence polarization detection (FP-TDI) was described. Although the most of this assay succeed, the objective of this work was to deter­mine the reasons for the failures, find ways to improve the assay and reduce the running cost. Ninety F2 -derived soybean, Glycine max (L.) Merr., RILs from a cross between 'Pureunkong' and 'Jinpumkong 2' were genotyped at four SNPs. FP measurement was done on Victot3 microplate reader (perkinelmer Inc., Boston, MA, USA). Increasing the number of thermal cycles in the single-base extension step increased the separation of the FP values between the products corresponding to different genotypes. But in some assays, excess of heterozygous genotypes was observed with increase of PCR cycles. We discovered that the excess heterozygous was due to misincorporation of one of the dye­terminators during the primer extension reaction. After pyrophosphatase incubation and thermal cycle control, misincoporation can be effectively prevented. Using long amplicons instead of short amplicons for SNP genotyping and decreasing the amount of dye terminator and Acyclopol Taq polymerase to 1/2 or 1/3 decreased the cost of the assay. With these minor adjustments, the FP-TDI assay can be used more accurately and cost-effectively.

Pod dehiscence (PD), defined as the opening of pods along both the dorsal and ventral sutures, causes the seed to shatter in the field before harvesting and results in loss of seed yields. However, breeding for resistance to PD is difficult due to the complicated genetic behavior and environmental interaction. The objective of the present research was to analyze the genetic behavior of PD for improving the breeding efficiency of resistance to PD in soybean. PD after oven-drying the sampled pod at 40~circC for 24 hours was the most reliable to predict the degree of PD tested in the field. Keunolkong, a dehiscent parent, was crossed with non-dehiscent parents, Sinpaldalkong and Iksan 10. Using their F1~;and~;F2 seeds, PD was measured after oven drying the pod at 40~circC for 24 hours. The gene conferring PD behaved in different manners depending on the genetic populations. In the Keunolkong~times Sinpaldalkong population, PD seemed to be governed by single major recessive gene and minor genes, while several genes were probably involved in the resistance to pod dehiscence in the Keunolkong~times Iksan 10 population. Heritability for PD estimated in F2 population showed over 90~% in the two populations. High heritability of PD indicated that selection for resistance to PD should be effective in a breeding program. In addition, genetic mapping of quantitative locus (QTL) for PD in both populations may reveal that genes conferring PD are population-specific

In the absence of exogeneous nitrogen supply, evaluation of a symbiosis effectiveness of Bradyrhizobium japonicum USDA 110 in a supernodulating soybean mutant, SS2-2, its wild type, Sinpaldalkong 2, and control genotype, Jangyeobkong, was conducted in this study. Nodules in SS2-2 were initially white and similar to its wild type, Sinpaldalkong 2. At the late stage, the wild type nodules became dark pinkish by maturation, by contrast, mature nodules in SS2-2 remained light green to pinkish, indicating a lack of leghemoglobin. Tap root length was short in nodulated symbiotic SS2-2 than that of its wild type and the control genotype. Nodulated root length and nodule density on root length were significantly increased by B. japonicum inoculation, but no significant increase was observed on root length and percentage of nodulation to total root length. Regardless of Bradyrhizobium inoculation, SS2-2 showed higher nodule dry weight and higher acetylene reduction activity (ARA) when compared with its wild type and the control genotype. Inoculation of B. japonicum leaded the increase of ARA in 47 days after planting (DAP), in part because of nodule development. Supernodulating mutant, SS2-2, less responded to B. japonicum induction in terms of nitrogen fixation and nodulation characteristics than its wild type. Thus, interaction of supernodulating soybean mutant with Bradyrhizobium had less symbiotically associated response than normal nodulating soybean.

Pod shape of twenty soybean (Glycine max L. Merrill) genotypes was evaluated quantitatively by image analysis using elliptic Fourier descriptors and their principal components. The closed contour of each pod projection was extracted, and 80 elliptic Fourier coefficients were calculated for each contour. The Fourier coefficients were standardized so that they were invariant of size, rotation, shift, and chain code starting point. Then, the principal components on the standardized Fourier coefficients were evaluated. The cumulative contribution at the fifth principal component was higher than 95~% , indicating that the first, second, third, fourth, and fifth principal components represented the aspect ratio of the pod, the location of the pod centroid, the sharpness of the two pod tips and the roundness of the base in the pod contour, respectively. Analysis of variance revealed significant genotypic differences in these principal components and seed number per pod. As the principal components for pod shape varied continuously, pod shape might be controlled by polygenes. It was concluded that principal component scores based on elliptic Fourier descriptors yield seemed to be useful in quantitative parameters not only for evaluating soybean pod shape in a soybean breeding program but also for describing pod shape for evaluating soybean germplasm.

A single recessive gene, rxp, controls the bacterial leaf pustule (BLP) resistance in soybean and in our previous article, it has been mapped on linkage group (LG) D2 of molecular genetic map of soybean. A total of 130 recombinant inbred lines (RILs) from a cross between BLP-resistant SS2-2 and BLP-susceptible Jangyeobkong were used to identify molecular markers linked to rxp. Fifteen simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers on LG D2 were screened to construct a genetic map of rxp locus. Only four SSR markers, Satt135, Satt372, Satt448, and Satt486, showed parental polymorphisms. Using these markers, genetic scaffold map was constructed covering 26.2cM. Based on the single analysis of variance, Satt372 among these four SSR markers was the most significantly associated with the resistance to BLP. To develop new amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) marker linked to the resistance gene, bulked segregant analysis (BSA) was employed. Resistance and susceptible bulks were made by pooling equal amount of genomic DNAs from ten of each in the segregating population. A total of 192 primer combinations were used to identify specific bands to the resistance, selecting three putative AFLP markers. These AFLP markers produced the fragment present in SS2-2 and the resistant bulk, and not in Jangyeobkong and the susceptible bulk. Linkage analysis revealed that McctEact97 (P=0.0004,~;R2=14.67~%) was more significant than Satt372, previously reported as the most closely linked marker.

Somaclonal variation, defined as phenotypic and genetic variations among regenerated plants from a parental plant, could be caused by changes in chromosome structure, single gene mutation, cytoplasm genetic mutation, insertion of transposable elements, and DNA methylation during plant regeneration. The objective of this study was to evaluate DNA variations among somaclonal variants from the cotyledonary node culture in soybean. A total of 61 soybean somaclones including seven ~textrmR1 lines and seven ~textrmR2 lines from Iksannamulkong as well as 27 ~textrmR1 lines and 20 ~textrmR2 lines from Jinju 1 were regenerated by organogenesis from the soybean cotyledonary node culture system. Field evaluation revealed no phenotypic difference in major agronomic traits between somaclonal variants and their wild types. AFLP and SSR analyses were performed to detect variations at the DNA level among somaclonal variants of two varieties. Based on AFLP analysis using 36 primer sets, 17 of 892 bands were polymorphic between Iksannamulkong and its somaclonal variants and 11 of 887 bands were polymorphic between Jinju 1 and its somaclonal variants, indicating the presence of DNA sequence change during plant regeneration. Using 36 SSR markers, two polymorphic SSR markers were detected between Iksannamulkong and its somaclonal variants. Sequence comparison amplified with the primers flanking Satt545 showed four additional stretches of ATT repeat in the variant. This suggests that variation at the DNA level between somaclonal variants and their wild types could provide basis for inducing mutation via plant regeneration and broadening crop genetic diversity.

Genetic diversity and soybean sprout-related traits were evaluated in a total of 72 soybean accessions (60 Glycine max, 7 Glycine soja, and 5 Glycine gracilis). 100-seed weight (SW) was greatly varied and ranged from 3.2g to 32.3g in 72 soybean accessions. Positive correlation was observed between GR and hypocotyl length (HL), whereas negative correlation was observed between SW and hypocotyl diameter (HD). Re-evaluation by discarding two soybean genotypes characterized with low GR indicated that much higher correlation of sprout yield (SY) with HD and SW. Based on the principal component analysis (PCA) for sprout-related traits, 57 accessions were classified. Soybean genotypes with better traits for sprout, such as small size of seeds and high SY, were characterized with high PCA 1 and PCA 2 values. The seed size in second is small but showed low GR and SY, whereas the third has large seed, high GR and more than 400% SY. In genetic similarity analysis using 60 SSR marker genotyping, 72 accessions were classified into three major and several minor groups. Nine of twelve accessions that were identified as the representatives of soybean for sprout based on PCA were in a group by the SSR marker analysis, indicating the SSR marker selection of parental genotypes for soybean sprout improvement program.

High temperature during sprout emergence period of potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) is a major limitation to the yield of fall-grown potato in Korea. To explore the possibility of improving the yield of fall-grown potato through recycled paper mulching, the changes of soil environment and the growth and yield of potato cv. Daeji as affected by three mulching treatments of non-mulched control, recycled paper mulching (RPM), and black polyethylene film-mulching (BPFM) were examined over two fall seasons at Suwon, Korea. The mulching materials were a recycled mulch paper with 110 g/m2 and a thickness of 0.1 mm, which was manufactured from old corrugated containers for this experiment and a commercial black polyethylene film with a thickness of 0.01mm. On an average throughout the growing period, the soil temperature with RPM at the 5-cm depth was lower by 0.4-1.1~circC than that of the control. The maximum temperature during daytime in RPM was lowered by approximately 1 to 5~circC according to the weather condition during emergence period, the difference being great on a fine day. The soil temperature with BPFM was much higher than the control. The effect of the mulching treatments diminished as the canopy became developed. The mulching treatments were more advantageous than the control in the conservation of soil water. Moreover, RPM and BPFM efficiently suppressed the occurrence of weeds until the potato harvest. RPM improved the emergence significantly due to lower soil temperature, whereas BPFM showed much poorer emergence than the control. Growth after emergence and yield were significantly higher in RPM than in the control and BPFM. It was concluded that the significantly improved yield in RPM compared to that in the control was mainly due to the improvement of the sprout emergence and tuber growth accompanied by lower soil temperature and better conservation of soil water.

Hypernodulation soybean mutant, SS2-2, is characterized with greater nodulation and nitrogen fixing ability in the root nodule than its wild type, Shinpaldalkong 2. The present study was performed to identify a genetic locus conferring hypernodulation in soybean mutant SS2-2 and to determine whether the gene controlling the hypernodulation of SS2-2 is allelic to that controlling the supernodulation of nts382 mutant. Hybridization studies between SS2-2 and Taekwangkong revealed that the recessive gene was responsible for the hypernodulation character in soybean mutant SS2-2. Allelism was also tested by crossing supernodulating mutant nts382 and hypernodulating mutant SS2-2 that both hypernodulation and supernodulation genes were likely controlled by an identical locus. Molecular marker mapping of hypernodulation gene in SS2-2 using SSR markers confirmed that the gene conferring hypernodulation was located at the same loci with the gene conferring supernodulation. It is interesting to note that the same gene controlled the super- and hyper-nodulation characters, although SS2-2 and nts 382 exhibited differences in the amount of nodulation in the root system. Further genetic studies should be needed to clarify the genetic regulation of super- and hyper-nodulation in soybean.

Two different types of molecular markers, simple sequence repeat (SSR) and single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP), were used to measure genetic diversity among five Korean, eight Thai, and three wild soybeans. For SSR analysis, a total of 20 markers were surveyed to detect polymorphisms. For SNP analysis, four primers were designed from consensus sequence regions on disease resistance protein homolog genes, and used to amplify the genomic region. The PCR products were sequenced. A number of polymorphic SSR and SNP bands were scored on all genotypes and their genetic similarity was measured. Clustering analysis was performed independently on both types of markers. Clustering based on SSR markers separated the genotypes into three main groups originated from Korea, Thailand, and wild soybeans. On the other hand, two main groups were classified using SNP analysis. It seemed that SSR was more informative than SNP in this study. This may be due to the fact that SNP was surveyed on the smaller genomic region than SSR. Grouping based on the combined data of both markers revealed similar results to that of SNP rather than that of SSR. This might be due to the fact that more loci from SNP were considered to measure genetic relatedness than those from the SSR.

This study was performed to evaluate the growth and nodulation characters of hypernodulating soy-bean mutant, SS2-2, and to know the growth and yield performance of the mutant in infertile soil. Soil fertility was adjusted by mixing the different ratios of soil components including clay, river sand, and horticultural bed, which resulted in fertile and infertile soil. Dry weight, nitrogen concentration, and leaf nitrate reductase of each plant were measured around V6 stage (47 days after planting) and around R3 stage (82 days after planting). There were significant effects of soil fertility and soybean genotype on the total dry weights including root, nodule, stem, leaf, and pod dry weight at V6 and R3 stages. Total dry weight of hypernodulating mutant, SS2-2, was clearly less than that of its wild type, Sinpaldalkong 2. However, nodule development on the roots of SS2-2 was much greater than that of Sinpaldalkong 2, regardless of soil fertility. Though SS2-2 was smaller in plant size than Sinpaldalkong 2, genotypic difference in total nitrogen content was not significant at both V6 and R3 stages because SS2-2 fixed more nitrogen biologically than its wild type in the root nodule. The SS2-2 mutant showed lower plant yield in both infertile and fertile soil. The SS2-2 contained more crude seed protein than Sinpaldalkong 2, and was characterized with reduced top and root growth.

Small seed size is one of the major traits of soybean cultivars for sprouts with regard to high sprout yield. This study was conducted to identify quantitative trait loci (QTL) for seed size and weight in a set of F 6 seeds of 89 lines derived from a cross between 'Pureunkong', a soybean cultivar developed for sprouts and 'Jinpumkong 2', a soybean cultivar with no beany taste in seed due to the lack of lipoxygenases. The genetic map of 25 linkage groups with a total of 98 markers including RFLP, RAPD, SSR and classical markers was constructed from this F/sbu 5/-derived population and was used for QTL analysis. 'Pureunkong' was significantly smaller (P＜0.01) than 'Jinpumkong 2' in seed size and seed weight. Genetic variation was detected and transgressive segregation was common in the population for these traits. Seven DNA markers including opT14-1600 in LG A2, opF02-400 in LG B2, Satt100, opC09-700, opG04-730 and opQll-650 in LG C2, and opY07-1100 ＆ 1000 in LG(unknown) were significantly associated and accounted for 4.7 to 10.9% and 5.1 to 10.1 % of the phenotypic variation in seed size and seed weight, respectively. 'Pureunkong' alleles increased seed size and seed weight at the all four significant marker loci on the LG C2. These marker loci in LG C2 were closely linked and were presumed to be a single QTL. Overall, at least three independent QTLs from 3 linkage groups (A2, B2, and C2) were putatively involved in the control of seed size and seed weight.

The objective of this study was to develop a linkage map of soybean under the genetic background of Korean soybean. A set of 89 F/sub 5/ lines was developed from a cross between 'Pureunkong', which was released for soy-bean sprout, and 'Jinpumkong 2', which had no beany taste in seed due to lack of lipoxygenase 1, 2, and 3. A linkage map was constructed for this population with a set of 113 genetic markers including 7 restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) markers, 79 randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) markers, 24 simple sequence repeat(SSR) markers, and 3 morphological markers. The map defined approximately 807.4 cM of the soybean genome comprising 25 linkage groups with 98 polymorphic markers. Fifteen markers remained unlinked. Seventeen linkage groups identified here could be assigned to the respective 13 linkage groups in the USDA soybean genetic map. RFLP and SSR markers segregated at only single genetic loci. Fourteen of the 25 linkage groups contained at least one SSR marker locus. Map positions of most of the SSR loci and their linkages with RFLP markers were consistent with previous reports of the USDA soybean linkage groups. For RAPD, banding patterns of 13 decamer primers showed independent segregations at two or more marker loci for each primer. Only the segregation at op Y07 locus was expressed with codominant manner among all RAPD loci. As the soybean genetic map in our study is more updated, molecular approaches of agronomically important genes would be useful to improve Korean soybean improvement.

The identification of quantitative trait loci (QTL) has the potential to enhance the efficiency of im- proving food processing traits of soybean. In this study, 92 restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) loci and two morphological markers (W1 and T) were used to identify QTL associated with food processing traits of soybean for sprout in 83 F2 -derived lines from a cross of ＇Pureun＇ x ＇Jinpum 2＇. The genetic map consisted of 76 loci which covered about 760 cM and converged into 20 linkage groups. Eighteen markers remained unlinked. Phenotypic data were collected for hypocotyl length, abnormal seedling rate, and sprout yield seven days after seed germination at 20~circC . Based on the single-factor analysis of variance, eight independent markers were associated with hypocotyl length. Four of seven markers associated with abnormal seedling rate were identified as independent. Seven loci were associated with sprout yield. For three different traits, much of genetic variation was explained by the identified QTL in this population. Several RFLP markers in linkage group (LG) Bl were detected as being associated with three traits, providing a genetic explanation for the biological correlation of sprout yield with hypocotyl length (r=OA07＊＊＊) and with abnormal seedling rate (r=-406＊＊＊).

Plant water status during growth is directly and indirectly associated with seed yield. The objective of the present study was to determine the genotypic differences in leaf water characteristics at an early growth stage of soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merrill] plants through the pressure-bomb technique. Measurements of water potential as well as relative water content (RWC) were made at the third leaf from the fully-expanded top leaf of eight different soybean genotypes grown for 31 to 35 days after field emergence. On the basis of the modified exponential model, pressure-volume (PV) curves were fitted well (R2 =0.92＊＊ to 0.99＊＊ for the curvi-linear region and R=0.67＊＊ to 0.96＊＊ for the linear region), indicating that a segmented model using PROC NLIN of SAS could be used effectively to estimate the leaf water characteristics. The regression analysis for the pressure-volume (PV) curve revealed genotypic variation in the solute potential at saturation (Ψs,sat :-10.7 to -14.8 bar), solute potential at incipient plasmolysis (Ψs,ip : -14.3 to -18.3 bar), RWC at incipient plasmolysis (RW Cip : 83.3 to 91.7%), high integrated turgor pressure from saturation to plasmolysis ( 1 b : 0.39 to 0.81), and maximum volumetric modulus of elasticity (~varepsilon max : 150 to 445 bar).).

Inhibition of nodule formation and nitrogen fixation by soil nitrogen, primarily nitrate, is well known in legume plants. The present study was undertaken to evaluate the effect of NO3- on the nodulation, nitrogenase activity, and growth of supernodulating soybean mutant and its wild type. A greenhouse study was conducted to compare two of supernodulating mutants, 'SS2-2' and 'nts 382', with the normal nodulating cultivar 'Sinpaldalkong 2' when grown in a 1-l styroform cup filled with sand, and fertilized with five levels of NO3- (0, 2, 4, 8, and 12 mM). During the growth period, each plant was supplied two or three times a week with 50 mL of nutrient solution. Supernodulating soybean mutants, SS2-2 and nts 382, showed more nodules and nodule mass, and greater C2~;H2 activity than the wild type, Sinpaldalkong 2, regardless of the level of exogeneous nitrogen supply. On the other hand, total dry weight of SS2-2 mutant, which was smaller than Sinpaldalkong 2, did not respond to the various NO3- -N levels. This suggested that supernodulating SS2-2 mutant could maintain fairly high total dry weight at the low NO3- -N level, even in the absence of exogeneous NO3- -N in the nutrient solution. From the reduced top growth and high nitrogen fixing ability of supernodulating mutants, it was surmised that supernodulating mutant could potentially protect agricultural environments from pollution through the reduction in nitrogen fertilization as well as maintain fairly high yield with increasing planting density.

수원 작물시험장 등 전국 각도 9개 지역에서 1990 및 1991년에 걸쳐 수행된 콩 지방적응연락시험에서, 팔달콩 등 10개의 공시계통들의 평균 수량을 조사하였으며, 수량안정성을 여러가지 방법으로 분석하여 상호 비교하였다. 수량 안정성분석은 Francis와 Kannenberg의 coefficient of variability, Finlay와 Wilkinson의 regression coefficient, Eberhart와 Russell의 deviation parameter, Plaisted의 variance component, Wricke의 ecovalence등 5개 분석방법을 이용하였으며 그 결과를 요약하면 다음과 같다. 1. 분산성분 비교에 의하면, 수량에 대한 콩유전자와 지역간 상호작용 분산성분이 콩유전자 및 년차간 상호작용 분산성분보다 약 7배 높아서, 정확한 수량안정도 평가를 위해서는 여러 해 걸쳐서 콩계통을 평가하기보다는 더 많은 지역에서 평가되어야 할 것으로 보였다. 2. 2년차 9개지역에서 수원 14005('92년 태광콩으로 장려품종 지정)가 평균수량이 높았으며, 5개 안정성 분석결과 수량안정도도 높았다. 3. 안정도계수 종류들 간의 rank correlation 분석결과, Eberhart와 Russell, Plaisted, 그리고 Wricke의 방법들 간의 고도의 유의적인 상관관계가 있었으나, Francis와 Finlay 방법은 다른 분석방법들과는 상관관계가 인정되지 않았다.