Screening Soybean Germplasm for Presence of Cda1 Allele Involved in Low Cadmium Accumulation Using Molecular Markers

Soybean is an important source of plant protein used in human diets. Cadmium (Cd) from agricultural soil is a toxic metal for plants, including soybean. Furthermore, the cadmium is taken up to seeds of soybean and becomes a risk for animals and human by feed and food chain. A method to avoid this risk is represented by the selection and breeding soybean lines/cultivars with genetic potential to minimized cadmium accumulation. This work reports an approach assisted by DNA-markers for selection of soybean cultivars with low Cd-accumulation. In this study, we screened the alleles of Cda1 gene, in 22 soybean cultivars, using three DNA markers (SSR-Sack149, Gm-dCAPS-HMA1 and Cda1-KASP). The results showed that 11 genotypes carried the allele for low cadmium accumulation, 8 genotypes had the allele for high cadmium accumulation and three genotypes were heterozygous/heterogenous. All three markers classified the soybean genotypes in the same manner but KASP marker is more efficient in marker-assisted selection/breeding for Cda1. This study offers valuable information to breeders and other researches regarding the selection of soybean germplasm with low cadmium accumulation in the pursuit of reducing the Cd-accumulation and assuring the food safety worldwide.