Genomic relationships in the genus Glycine (Fabaceae: Phaseoleae): use of a monoclonal antibody to the soybean Bowman-Blrk inhibitor as a genome marker

We investigated the use of a monoclonal antibody (MAb 238) to the soybean Bowman-Birk inhibitor (BBI) to verify and understand the intergenomic relationships among the wild perennial Glycine species. Competitive enzyme linked immunosorbent assay and western blot screening studies revealed that the accessions of B-genome (G. latifolia, G. microphylla, and G. tabacina, 2n = 40) and C-genome (G. curvata and G. cyrtoloba) species did not contain the MAb 238 crossreactive proteins (BBI-nulls). By contrast, all the A-genome (G. argyrea, G. canescens, G. clandestina, and G. latrobeana), E-genome (G. tomentella, 2n = 38), and F-genome (G. falcata) species, G. arenaria (genome unknown), and the polyploid (2n = 78,80) G. tomentella accessions were BBI-positive. The D-genome G. tomentella (2n = 40) and tetraploid G. tabacina (2n = 80) contained both BBI-null and BBI-positive type accessions. Among the recently described species, G. hirticaulis (2n = 40), G. lactovirens, and G. pindanica contained the MAb 238 crossreactive proteins while G. albicans did not. Glycine hirticaulis, G. pindanica, and G. tomentella (2n = 38) displayed highly similar MAb 238 crossreactive isoelectric focusing banding patterns, indicating that they are genomically close to each other. Glycine hirticaulis was found to have both diploid (2n = 40) and tetraploid (2n = 80) cytotypes. We demonstrated that the MAb 238 was specific to the trypsin inhibitor domain of the BBI. The MAb 238 clearly reflected all the previously established relationships in the genus Glycine, validating its use as a genome marker.