About this Research Topic

Background

Soybean is a major crop grown worldwide, providing an important supply of plant protein and oil for human consumption as well as a major source of protein meal for animal feeds. Soybean also plays an important role in international trade. The world soybean crop has sustainably grown for last three decades, especially in the North and South America, due to the progress in technology and the increasing market demand. The increase of unit-area yield has been considerably attributed to genetic improvement. However, soybean production still faces challenges such as the impacts of climate changes and environmental stress, damages caused by diseases and pests, and the demand of enhanced yield potential and improved nutritional quality. Developing new varieties with desired characteristics is a key to approaching to the solution of these challenges. Application of novel technologies will greatly help realization of the goal.

For the present, molecular breeding mainly refers to application of novel biotechnologies to plant breeding: QTL mapping, DNA marker-assisted selection, map-based cloning, GWAS and genomic selection, gene or genome editing and breeding by design. These technologies have been extensively studied and achieved significant progress in plant science. However, their use in practical soybean breeding has been limited and there is a room for further development and improvement of the technologies. Relatively, molecular breeding has been less studied and used in soybean than in maize and rice. Soybean molecular breeding has been mostly focused on resistance to pests/diseases, such as soybean aphids, soybean cyst nematode and soybean mosaic virus, while the improvement of complex traits like yield and quality have been rarely involved. We expect that molecular breeding approaches will be more extensively studied and used in soybean genetic improvement. This special issue will provide a forum to address this problems and present new progress in related research.

The research topic will cover basic and application-oriented basic studies that support and facilitate soybean breeding and improvement. Both research articles and review articles are welcome. The following issues will be expected to be addressed:
· Genetic foundation and molecular mechanisms underlying important traits in soybean;
· QTL mapping and marker-assisted selection;
· GWAS and genomic selection/prediction;
· Molecular breeding by design;
· Introgression of novel genetic variation from exotic germplasm sources;
· Domestication and selection signatures;
· Genotype x environment interaction;
· Improvement of seed quality and/or nutritional quality traits;
· Breeding for resistance to diseases and pests;
· Breeding for tolerance to abiotic stresses;
· Breeding for sustainable production systems and climate change.

Keywords: Soybean, Breeding and genetics, Genomics, QTL, GWAS, Genomic selection, Seed nutrition and nutraceutical, Disease and pest resistance, Abiotic stress tolerance, G x E interaction

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.

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