Comparative genomic analysis of soybean flowering genes

Abstract

Flowering is an important agronomic trait that determines crop yield. Soybean is a major oilseed legume crop used for human and animal feed. Legumes have unique vegetative and floral complexities. Our understanding of the molecular basis of flower initiation and development in legumes is limited. Here, we address this by using a computational approach to examine flowering regulatory genes in the soybean genome in comparison to the most studied model plant, Arabidopsis. For this comparison, a genome-wide analysis of orthologue groups was performed, followed by an in silico gene expression analysis of the identified soybean flowering genes. Phylogenetic analyses of the gene families highlighte..