Legume Genomics and Genetics 2025, Vol.16, No.1, 23-32 http://cropscipublisher.com/index.php/lgg 25 emerging, allowing us to see these complex genetic relationships more clearly. Although the road ahead is still long, these discoveries have indeed opened up new ideas for cultivating better soybean varieties. Figure 1 Locations and interactions of QTLs detected for seed traits in NJRISX (Adopted from Li et al., 2020) Image caption: Different colorful dot lines represent the interaction between respective QTLs. The ruler on the left is shown in units of cM (Adopted from Li et al., 2020) 3 Molecular Mechanisms Underpinning Genetic Interactions 3.1 Gene regulatory networks controlling soybean development The growth process of soybeans is like a carefully arranged 'gene symphony'. Recent research has found that genes like GmCOL1 act as strict conductors, specifically responsible for suppressing flowering time (Wu et al., 2019). Interestingly, in addition to these visible genes, there are also some "behind the scenes players"-such as small molecules such as miRNAs and lncRNAs. Although they do not directly code proteins, they can secretly regulate important characteristics such as seed color and yield (Figure 2) (Ku et al., 2022). These regulatory factors are like stage supervisors, influencing the growth and development of soybeans by controlling the stability and translation efficiency of mRNA. For example, under drought conditions, certain miRNAs may suddenly become active, adjusting the expression levels of stress related genes. These findings make us understand that improving soybean varieties cannot only focus on coding genes, the entire regulatory network must be taken into account. 3.2 Role of transcription factors and signaling pathways The growth regulation of soybeans is like a precise 'molecular symphony', and transcription factors (TFs) are the conductors of this performance. For example, the transcription factors of the AP2/ERF family not only regulate how soybeans grow, but also respond to various environmental pressures (Yang et al., 2021). Interestingly, these transcription factors rarely go it alone-they often work in teams to regulate downstream genes through complex signaling networks. Just like the recently discovered GmPLATZ, this transcription factor is particularly interesting as it acts as a "seed size regulator" that affects the size of beans by activating cell division related genes and
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