Molecular genomic investigations on floral induction using soybean as a model system

Soybean is a major legume crop used for human and animal consumption.
The flowering process controls seed set and hence directly affects the productivity of a crop plant.
Soybean is a photoperiod sensitive plant whose floral transition is initiated by exposure to short-day conditions.
Our knowledge on key molecular regulators of flower initiation in legumes such as soybean is limited.
This review gives an overview of the underlying molecular pathways and epigenetic mechanisms that take place during soybean flowering.
Comparative genomic and transcriptomic tools have revealed the molecular dynamics during soybean flowering.
Multiple flowering gene isoforms and hence allelic variations in soybean are evident.
However, understanding how these genetic variations are coordinated at the molecular and physiological level within the plant is lacking.
A functional approach to determine the divergent functions of the flowering inducing genes in soybean is essential to understand how crop plants adapt to diverse internal and external environments.

International Symposium on Flowering, Fruit Set and Alternate Bearing

H. Arya, M.B. Singh, P.L. Bhalla

legumes, Glycine max, flowering, natural variations, epigenetics

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2018.1229.8