title: Elucidation of Molecular Identity of the W3 Locus and Its Implication in Determination of Flower Colors in Soybean.
abstract: The wide range of flower colors in soybean is controlled by six independent loci (W1, W2, W3, W4, Wm, and Wp). Among these loci, mutations in the W3 locus under the w4 allelic background (i.e., w3w4) produce near-white flowers, while the W3w4 genotype produces purple throat flowers. Although a gene encoding dihydroflavonol 4-reductase, DFR1, has been known to be closely associated with the W3 locus, its molecular identity has not yet been characterized. In the present study, we aimed to determine whether DFR1 is responsible for allelic variations in the W3 locus. On the basis of the sequence of a DFR probe, Glyma.14G072700 was identified as a candidate gene for DFR1, and nucleotide sequences of Glyma.14G072700 from cultivars with previously validated genotypes for the W3 locus were determined. As a result, a number of nucleotide polymorphisms, mainly single-base substitutions, between both coding and 5'-upstream region sequences of the W3 and w3 alleles were identified. Among them, an indel of 311-bp in the 5'-upstream region was noteworthy, since the Glyma.14G072700 in all the w3 alleles examined contained the indel, whereas that in all the W3 alleles did not; the former was barely expressed, but the latter was well expressed. These results suggest that Glyma.14G072700 is likely to correspond to DFR1 for the W3 locus and that its expression patterns may lead to allelic color phenotypes of W3 and w3 alleles under the w4 allelic background.
authors.affiliation: School of Applied Biosciences, Kyungpook National University, Daegu, Korea.
authors.forename: Gyu Tae
authors.initials: GT
authors.lastname: Park
authors.affiliation: School of Applied Biosciences, Kyungpook National University, Daegu, Korea.
authors.forename: Jagadeesh
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sundaramoorthy
authors.affiliation: School of Applied Biosciences, Kyungpook National University, Daegu, Korea.
authors.forename: Jeong-Dong
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Kyungpook National University, Daegu, Korea.
authors.forename: Jeong Hoe
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Bioscience, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Hak Soo
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Seo
authors.affiliation: School of Applied Biosciences, Kyungpook National University, Daegu, Korea.
authors.forename: Jong Tae
authors.initials: JT
authors.lastname: Song
mesh_terms: D000429:Alcohol Oxidoreductases / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D000483:Alleles; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000872:Anthocyanins / Q000096:biosynthesis; D003116:Color; D035264:Flowers / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D017343:Genes, Plant; D005838:Genotype; D054643:INDEL Mutation; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010858:Pigmentation / Q000235:genetics; D010940:Plant Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D013025:Glycine max / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D000872:Anthocyanins; D010940:Plant Proteins; D000429:Alcohol Oxidoreductases; C056570:dihydroflavanol 4-reductase