Genetic variants in root architecture-related genes in a Glycine soja accession, a potential resource to improve cultivated soybean

Background Root system architecture is important for water acquisition and nutrient acquisition for all crops. In soybean breeding programs, wild soybean alleles have been used successfully to enhance yield and seed composition traits, but have never been investigated to improve root system architecture. Therefore, in this study, high-density single-feature polymorphic markers and simple sequence repeats were used to map quantitative trait loci (QTLs) governing root system architecture in an inter-specific soybean mapping population developed from a cross between Glycine max and Glycine soja.