Tagging the juvenile locus in soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] with molecular markers

Soybean cultivars carrying the ‘long juvenile trait’ show a delayed flowering response under short day conditions. The incorporation of this character into genotypes of agronomic interest may allow a broader range of sowing dates and latitudes for a single cultivar adaptation. The objective of this work was to identify molecular markers linked to the juvenile locus in soybean. Experiments were carried out using two pairs of near isogenic lines (NILs) differing in the presence of the long juvenile trait, and RAPD markers. Four hundred primers were first screened to find polymorphism associated with the trait. Additional differences between NILs were sought by digesting the genomic DNA with five restriction enzymes. Polymorphic fragments detected between NILs were tested for linkage to the juvenile locus in the corresponding F2 segregating populations. Marker bc357-HaeIII was linked (χ2L = 46.316) to the juvenile locus with an estimated recombination frequency of 0.13 ± 0.03 in one of the genetic backgrounds studied. The fragment was cloned, sequenced and converted into a SCAR marker. Moreover, bc357-HaeIII was used as RFLP probe. Both, SCAR and RFLP generated markers linked to the juvenile locus in the two genetic backgrounds analysed. Results presented in this work can be utilised for both, the localisation of the gene associated with the character and for tagging the juvenile trait in soybean breeding programs.