Inheritance of isoflavone contents in soybean seeds

Summary We studied the genetic basis of isoflavone content inheritance in soybean seeds. The progenitors BARC-8 (low isoflavone content), IAC-100 (high isoflavone content), the F₁ and F₂ populations derived from reciprocal crosses, and backcross populations were analyzed for isoflavone content and composition. Six isoflavones were detected: daidzin (DZ), genistin (GT), glycitin (GC), malonyldaidzin (MDZ), malonylgenistin (MGT) and malonylglycitin (MGC). DZ, GT, MDZ and MGT contents were influenced by the cytoplasm and the nuclear genes of the maternal parent. For this reason, a genetic model was considered that included the cytoplasmic effect and epistasis between nuclear and cytoplasmic genes. Except for GT, the additive effect was the most important one. For GT content the cytoplasmic effect was the most important. Except for MDZ, the epistatic effects were significant for all the isoflavone forms. Our data indicate that genetic improvement for these traits should explore the additive genetic variances in superior lines or the cytoplasmic effect and the epistatic interactions between cytoplasmic and nuclear genes to obtain the largest selection gains.