Platinum-grade soybean reference genome facilitates characterization of genetic underpinnings of traits

Abstract BackgroundCultivated soybean (Glycine max) is an important source for protein and oil. Each soybean strain has its own genetic diversity, and the availability of more soybean genomes may enhance comparative genomic analysis of soybean.ResultsIn this study, we constructed a high-quality de novo assembly of an elite soybean cultivar Jidou 17 (JD17) with high contiguity, completeness, and accuracy. We annotated 59,629 gene models and reconstructed 235,109 high-quality full-length transcripts. We have molecularly characterized the genotypes of some important agronomic traits of JD17 by taking advantage of these newly established genomic resources.ConclusionsWe reported a high-quality genome and annotations of a wide range of cultivars, and used them to analyze the genotypes of genes related to important agronomic traits of soybean in JD17. We have demonstrated that high-quality genome assembly can serve as a valuable reference for soybean genomics and breeding research community.