Yang Ce, Li Bingbing, Yu Hongqiang, Wang Yan, An Zhenghong, Chen Manying, He Chaoying
State Key Laboratory of Plant Diversity and Specialty Crops/Laboratory of Systematic and Evolutionary Botany, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100093, China.
China National Botanical Garden, Beijing, 100093, China.
Theor Appl Genet. 2025 Sep 19;138(10):253. doi: 10.1007/s00122-025-05039-y.
We revealed essential roles of GmCDC7 in modulating seed size/weight and seed protein/oil content in soybean, presenting potential new targets for improving yield and quality of soybean and other crops. Seed size/weight is a critical factor determining crop yield; however, a limited number of genes regulating this trait have been characterized in soybean. In this study, we identified a Glycine max CELL DIVISION CYCLE 7 (GmCDC7) and revealed its essential roles in seed development. The putative GmCDC7 was highly conserved in both sequences and structure across various species. GmCDC7 transcripts were detectable in multiple tissues, with peak expression occurring during early seed development, while the GmCDC7 proteins were predominantly localized within the nucleus. CRISPR/Cas9-mediated knockout of GmCDC7 led to a significant increase in seed size and 100-seed weight, while overexpression of this gene resulted in a reduction in both seed size and weight. Further cytological analysis demonstrated that GmCDC7 promoted cell expansion and inhibited cell proliferation in seeds. Notably, the gene-edited gmcdc7 mutants showed a substantial increase in protein content alongside a reduction in oil content in seeds. Correspondingly, transcriptomic analyses revealed that GmCDC7 may significantly influence multifaceted regulatory pathways related to cell cycle-related activities, storage protein accumulation, and lipid transport and metabolism during seed development. These findings suggest that GmCDC7 plays pivotal roles in modulating seed size/weight and quality, offering new gene resources and insights into biotechnological strategies for soybean breeding.
我们揭示了GmCDC7在调节大豆种子大小/重量以及种子蛋白质/油含量方面的重要作用，为提高大豆和其他作物的产量和品质提供了潜在的新靶点。种子大小/重量是决定作物产量的关键因素；然而，在大豆中已鉴定出的调控该性状的基因数量有限。在本研究中，我们鉴定了一个大豆细胞分裂周期7（GmCDC7）基因，并揭示了其在种子发育中的重要作用。推测的GmCDC7在不同物种的序列和结构上高度保守。GmCDC7转录本在多个组织中均可检测到，在种子发育早期表达量达到峰值，而GmCDC7蛋白主要定位于细胞核内。CRISPR/Cas9介导的GmCDC7基因敲除导致种子大小和百粒重显著增加，而该基因的过表达则导致种子大小和重量均降低。进一步的细胞学分析表明，GmCDC7促进种子细胞扩张并抑制细胞增殖。值得注意的是，基因编辑的gmcdc7突变体种子中的蛋白质含量大幅增加，同时油含量降低。相应地，转录组分析显示，GmCDC7可能在种子发育过程中显著影响与细胞周期相关活动、贮藏蛋白积累以及脂质运输和代谢相关的多方面调控途径。这些发现表明，GmCDC7在调节种子大小/重量和品质方面发挥着关键作用，为大豆育种提供了新的基因资源和生物技术策略见解。
