Exploring elite alleles for seed isoflavones concentration in soybean by association analysis

Soybean isoflavones are valuable in certain medicines, cosmetics, foods and feeds. Selection for high-isoflavone content in seeds along with agronomic traits is a goal of many soybean breeders. In our study, with 2 tables association mapping is a useful alternative to linkage mapping for the detection of marker-phenotype associations. Association analysis studies can be used to test for associations between molecular markers and target phenotype. The main objective of this study is to identify simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers associated with the soybean quality traits of isoflavones content. The four quality traits were evaluated in 135 soybean cultivar accessions from China, and the 135 accessions were genotyped with 100 SSR markers, analysis of population structure revealed three subgroups in the population. A total of 31 marker-trait associations related to the four traits were identified. According to the results, the association analysis in this study can be an effective method for QTL mapping and can help breeders to develop new approach for improving the content of isoflavones in soybean.