Ferela, A. | Search bioRxiv

bioRxiv2025

Time Series GWAS for Iron Deficiency Chlorosis Tolerance in Soybean using Aerial Imagery

AbstractThe use of drones has become a commonly used tool by plant scientists to aid in plant phenotyping endeavors. Iron deficiency chlorosis (IDC) is a commonly observed abiotic stress in soybean fields with high soil pH levels. IDC severity is visually classified, and recent work has shown that digital imaging techniques using both ground and UAS-acquired imagery can be utilized for automated severity ratings. In our study, we compared the classification accuracy of two flight altitudes to determine the optimal flight parameters for IDC phenotyping. In addition to this, we investigated the ability to use image-predicted scores for genome wide association study (GWAS), as well as the effect of IDC on traits such as canopy area and canopy growth and development. We also report a tool for semi-automated plot extraction from orthomosaic images that can be easily integrated with UAS. We noted that 43 days after planting was an ideal time for IDC severity ratings as the highest number of significant SNPs were reported at this timepoint.

genetics↗

bioRxiv2024

High Temperature and Microbiome Conditions Affect Gene Expression in Soybean

Heat stress is increasingly a problem in global agriculture production, both in increasing occurrences and extended durations. Understanding the molecular mechanisms of the soybean heat stress response is essential for breeding heat tolerant soybeans. Plant associated microbiomes are known to mitigate adverse effects from abiotic stress. Soybean heat stress studies have primarily focused on response to short periods of stress, and how soybean responds on a transcriptional level to a soil microbiome is poorly understood. We hypothesize a soil microbiome may help soybean survive long-term heat stress exposure. We used RNA-seq to measure the transcriptional responses in four soybean exposed to two temperature regimes and grown in two soil microbiome conditions. We identified unique responses to temperature based on the soil microbiome conditions and to the different genotypes, with fewer changes across genotypes in response to a soil microbiome. Our findings provide insights on the interaction of soil microbiome with heat stress response in soybean and identify gene targets to further study the soybean heat stress tolerance with applications to develop improved varieties.

plant biology↗