Legume Genomics and Genetics 2025, Vol.16, No.1, 33-43 http://cropscipublisher.com/index.php/lgg 33 Research Insight Open Access Key Regulatory Genes Controlling Photosynthesis in Soybean Weiliang Shen, Yuping Huang, Jingyi Zhang Tropical Legume Research Center, Hainan Institute of Tropical Agricultural Resources, Sanya, 572025, Hainan, China Corresponding email: jingyi.zhang@hitar.org Legume Genomics and Genetics, 2025 Vol.16, No.1 doi: 10.5376/lgg.2025.16.0004 Received: 22 Dec., 2024 Accepted: 02 Feb., 2025 Published: 18 Feb., 2025 Copyright © 2025 Shen et al., This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Preferred citation for this article: Shen W.L., Huang Y.P., and Zhang J.Y., 2025, Key regulatory genens controlling photosynthesis in soybean, Legume Genomics and Genetics, 16(1): 33-43 (doi: 10.5376/lgg.2025.16.0004) Abstract Soybeans are an important agricultural crop in China, and photosynthesis plays a crucial role in their growth and production. This study reviewed the research progress of expression regulation of soybean photosynthetic genes, studied the role of key regulatory genes such as GmHY5, GmGLK1 and GmPIF4 in promoting chlorophyll biosynthesis, regulating chloroplast development and regulating stress response, discussed the transcriptional, post transcriptional and post translational regulatory mechanisms regulating the photosynthetic process, emphasized the potential of gene transformation with soybean variety improvement as an example, explored the application of key regulatory genes in breeding plans, and emphasized the application of marker assisted selection and gene editing in breeding climate adaptive soybean varieties. This study aims to emphasize the importance of key regulatory genes in improving photosynthetic efficiency and provide strategies for future soybean breeding and agricultural practices. Keywords Photosynthesis; Soybean; Regulatory genes; Gene expression; Transcription factors 1 Introduction When it comes to plant growth, photosynthesis is actually a process of converting sunlight into energy (Wang et al., 2017). However, the matter of soybeans (Glycine max) is a bit complicated. Sometimes genes and the environment come together to affect this process (Chu et al., 2018; Tao and Han, 2024). Sunlight is not just about providing energy. It can also act as a signal, controlling genes related to photosynthesis (Halpape et al., 2023; Sun et al., 2023). When it comes to yield, photosynthetic efficiency is indeed quite crucial, but it depends on the situation - whether there is enough light and what the nutrients in the soil are all taken into account (Sun et al., 2017). It's quite interesting about soybeans - photosynthesis is not determined by just a few genes. There are a bunch of genes and transcription factors competing behind it (Keller et al., 2023). Take GmRPI2 for example. Experiments have found that it can increase the photosynthetic rate of leaves, and the chlorophyll content also rises accordingly. However, on the other hand, GmFtsH25 is not bad either. After overexpression, not only did the photosynthetic efficiency increase, but even the starch content in the seeds increased (Wang et al., 2022b). Of course, the synthesis of chlorophyll still depends on GmGATA58. After all, the conversion of light energy is entirely handled by it (Zhang et al., 2020a). In fact, these findings are quite significant. After all, to increase soybean production, the ultimate goal is still to start with photosynthetic efficiency. This study aims to clarify several things - how genes such as GmRPI2, GmFtsH25, and GmGATA58 affect soybean photosynthesis. It's quite interesting to say that these genes behave differently in different environments, and they may even "fight" or "cooperate" with each other. Actually, it's quite important to understand the operation mechanism of these genes (although the process is indeed quite complex), after all, traditional breeding alone is not enough to increase soybean yield now. We focused on studying how these genes regulate photosynthetic efficiency, in other words, to enable soybeans to grow better in various fields. Of course, these findings may be helpful for cultivating new varieties in the future, but the specific application still depends on further research.
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