The library of 50,000 DNA markers called single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) will be created by ARS geneticists David Hyten and Perry Cregan as part of their ongoing studies with SNP DNA markers at the Soybean genomics and improvement research unit in Beltsville, Md.

The library will provide soybean researchers and breeders with a valuable resource to use in characterizing the genetic variation available for soybean improvement.

It should, for example, help them to determine the position and characteristics of alleles, or alternate forms of genes, within the oilseed crop's 20 chromosomes.

One goal is to genotype nearly 20,000 lines, called accessions, in the USDA soybean germplasm collection, held at the University of Illinois. The library's anticipated 50,000 SNPs will help researchers to take the next step in applying the soybean whole genome-sequence data - released by the US Department of Energy's joint genome institute - to make soybean breeding more efficient and precise.

Of particular interest is using SNP marker technology to rapidly identify plants that carry important traits like high-quality oil and resistance to pests including soybean cyst nematodes. High-yield varieties and those with high protein levels could also be identified more rapidly.

The SNPs themselves are small changes, or variations, in the sequence of four biochemical 'letters' - A (adenine), C (cytosine), T (thymine) and G (guanine) - that make up an organism's DNA 'alphabet'.

Cregan and Hyten, together with their colleagues, have so far identified 43,000 SNPs in soybean and mapped the genome locations of 15,000 of them.

The United Soybean Board (USB) is funding the $2.9m, three-year project from the organisation's soybean checkoff program, while the American Soybean Association (ASA) is also lending its support to the project by lobbying for more federal funding into soybean genomics.

Under the program, soybean farmers collectively invest a portion of their end-of-season profits (some 0.5 per cent of the market price per bushel sold each season) into the checkoff program in order to fund research and promotion efforts.

The USB is made up of 68 farmer-directors who oversee investments of the soybean checkoff on behalf of all US soybean farmers.

"This genomics project will greatly aid soybean-breeding efforts," said Ike Boudreaux, USB chairman.

"Ultimately, improved varieties will be available to farmers much faster. The ASA and USDA are playing critical roles in making this type of research a reality for farmers. The checkoff will also play a significant role in not only helping fund research, but relaying valuable information about new discoveries to farmers."
"This joint partnership between ASA, USDA and USB is a significant step forward in producer profitability," said John Hoffman, ASA president.

"ASA has been successful in garnering appropriations of $40m annually for soybean research. Leveraging checkoff dollars and federal appropriations is important to meet the growing global demand for soybeans."
According to ARS administrator Edward B. Knipling, the goal of the project is to "harness the remarkable recent developments in rapid genome analysis to construct a new, highly detailed, high-resolution description of the genetic diversity contained within soybean and its close wild relatives".

"This project may serve as a road map for constructing the shortest, most efficient pathways to identifying soybean genes, their functions and their variants."
ARS geneticists have already developed several soybean lines that are resistant to diseases such as soybean cyst nematode (SCN) - the most destructive soybean pest in the US, causing an annual estimated loss of $1.1bn - sudden death syndrome, stem canker and frogeye leaf spot.