Bioscience Methods 2024, Vol.15, No.6, 255-263 http://bioscipublisher.com/index.php/bm 256 This study aims to evaluate the impact of marker-assisted selection on soybean yield and disease resistance. By integrating MAS into soybean breeding programs, the study seeks to determine its effectiveness in enhancing these critical traits. The scope of the research includes a comprehensive analysis of MAS techniques, their application in soybean breeding, and the resulting improvements in yield and disease resistance. The findings will contribute to the development of more resilient and productive soybean varieties, ultimately supporting sustainable agricultural practices and food security. 2 Marker-Assisted Selection (MAS) in Soybean Breeding 2.1 Principles of MAS and its advantages over conventional breeding Marker-assisted selection (MAS) leverages molecular markers to select desirable traits in plants, offering several advantages over conventional breeding methods. MAS is more time-efficient, cost-effective, and precise, allowing for the selection of traits at the seedling stage without the need for phenotypic evaluation of mature plants (Miedaner and Korzun, 2012; Song et al., 2023). This method is particularly beneficial for traits that are difficult to measure phenotypically, such as disease resistance and yield potential (Figure 1) (Kim et al., 2020; Hasan et al., 2021). Figure 1 The figure explains the basic procedure of marker-assisted selection (Adopted from Hasan et al., 2021) 2.2 Types of genetic markers used in soybean MAS Simple sequence repeats (SSRs), also known as microsatellites, are short, repetitive DNA sequences that are highly polymorphic and co-dominant. They are widely used in MAS due to their high reproducibility, abundance, and ease of detection (Song et al., 2023). SSRs have been successfully applied in soybean breeding programs to improve traits such as disease resistance and yield. Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) are the most abundant type of genetic variation in genomes. SNPs are highly suitable for high-throughput genotyping and have been extensively used in MAS for soybean breeding. The development of SNP arrays and genotyping platforms has facilitated the rapid identification and selection of beneficial alleles in soybean populations (He et al., 2014; Ludwików et al., 2015; Kim et al., 2020; Cheng, 2024).
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