Flux of transcript patterns during soybean seed development

Abstract

BackgroundTo understand gene expression networks leading to functional properties of the soybean seed, we have undertaken a detailed examination of soybean seed development during the stages of major accumulation of oils, proteins, and starches, as well as the desiccating and mature stages, using microarrays consisting of up to 27,000 soybean cDNAs. A subset of these genes on a highly-repetitive 70-mer oligonucleotide microarray was also used to support the results.ResultsIt was discovered that genes related to cell growth and maintenance processes, as well as energy processes like photosynthesis, decreased in expression levels as the cotyledons approached the mature, dry stage. Genes involved with some storage proteins had their highest expression levels at the stage of highest fresh weight. However, genes encoding many transcription factors and DNA binding proteins showed higher expression levels in the desiccating and dry seeds than in most of the green stages.ConclusionsData on 27,000 cDNAs have been obtained over five stages of soybean development, including the stages of major accumulation of agronomically-important products, using two different types of microarrays. Of particular interest are the genes found to peak in expression at the desiccating and dry seed stages, such as those annotated as transcription factors, which may indicate the preparation of pathways that will be needed later in the early stages of imbibition and germination.

Phosphoproteomic Analysis of Seed Maturation in Arabidopsis, Rapeseed, and Soybean

“…Arabidopsis staging was analogous to soybean, with seeds harvested from early maturation (5 d after flowering) to mid maturation (13 d after flowering; Baud and Lepiniec, 2008;Jones et al, 2010;Hajduch et al, 2011). Phosphopeptides identified from Arabidopsis had a comparable profile to soybean phosphopeptides, with a majority of the phosphopeptides identified early in development.…”

Agroecological impact of an in vitro biotechnology approach of embryo development and seed filling in legumes

“…vicilin, legumin and convicilin, accumulate in a sequential fashion, starting with vicilins at 14 DAP, followed by the legumins at 16 DAP and, at 18 DAP, the convicilins (Gallardo et al 2003(Gallardo et al , 2006a. During this accumulation process, the embryonic cells continue growing by enlargement (Ochatt 2011), the seed dry weight increases and the relative water content decreases (Gallardo et al 2003;Gallardo et al 2006a, b;Allen et al 2009;Jones et al 2010). Furthermore, the seeds gain the ability to germinate at approximately 14 DAP and acquire desiccation tolerance 2 to 3 days later (16-19 DAP) (Gallardo et al 2003(Gallardo et al , 2006aOchatt 2011).…”

“…3 Grain legume production in the EU countries (FAO 2012) less than 1 % (Gallardo et al 2003(Gallardo et al , 2006aThompson et al 2009), whilst pea or faba bean store starch as the principal form of carbon. Thus, the resemblance to legume oilseeds as soybean is significant (Jones et al 2010;Allen and Young 2013), wherefore barrel medic can also serve as a model for soybean or other economically important legume species (Barker et al 1990;Gallardo et al 2003;Aghamirzaie et al 2013). …”

“…Seed development is an important process, by which quantity and quality of different food reserves within the seed are determined (Gallardo et al 2003(Gallardo et al , 2006aAllen et al 2009;Jones et al 2010;Patrick and Stoddard 2010;Aghamirzaie et al 2013;Allen and Young 2013;Verdier et al 2013). The seeds comprise three distinct components, i.e.…”

“…1 and 4) characterised by distinct physiological events and activities. Recent studies have shown that the transition between phases in developing seeds is mainly regulated at the transcriptional level in legumes (Le et al 2007) including soybean (Jones et al 2010;Aghamirzaie et al 2013), faba bean (Patrick and Stoddard 2010) and M. truncatula (Atif 2012;Atif et al 2013a, b;Noguero et al 2013;Verdier et al 2013).…”