Marker-Assisted Selection for Early Maturing Loci in Soybean Yielded Prospective Breeding Lines for High Latitudes of Northern Kazakhstan.

The photoperiodic sensitivity of soybean ( L.) is one of the limiting factors affecting plant growth and yield. At higher latitudes, early flowering and maturity with neutral reaction to photoperiods are required for adaptation of soybean plants to long-day conditions.

Modified Allele-Specific qPCR (ASQ) Genotyping.

The allele-specific qPCR (ASQ) method for SNP (single nucleotide polymorphism) detection is based on the FRET (fluorescence resonance energy transfer) system, a system using position-dependent fluorescent dyes and quenches. The modified ASQ method requires two separate components: (1) the allele-specific part, two AS primers targeting the SNP with identity in the penultimate positions at the 3'-end and specific tags in the 5'-end, and (2) the universal part, two universal probes (UPs) with corresponding tags and different fluorescent dyes in the 5'-end and a single common universal probe with a quencher in the 3'-ends (Uni-Q), complementary to all UP tags. There are two major variations of the ASQ method, with either short 4-bp tags (variant A) or longer 6-bp tags (variant B), both of which have been successfully used for SNP genotyping in plants.