Soybean genomics has advanced rapidly in recent years, but what does that mean for researchers, farmers and the future of soybean production? A recent webinar hosted by the Science Societies explored the progress made, the challenges ahead, and the priorities set out in a new strategic plan. 

That discussion, titled "Soybean Genomics: Progress, Challenges, and Strategic Priorities," featured Dr. Robert Stepar, professor in the Department of Agronomy and Plant Genetics at University of Minnesota. He gave an overview of a special section of The Plant Genome Journal and the Soybean Genomics Research Community strategic plan, which is specific to U.S. soybean researchers, particularly those involved in genomics and related fields. He also referred to complementary work, Soybean2023: A Decadal Vision for Soybean Functional Genomics and Breeding. 

The strategic plan aims to improve soybean research efficiency, deliver a high return on investment for funders and other stakeholders, and identify priorities researchers can use to make the case for funding and support. Ultimately, the goal is to make soybeans more profitable for farmers and the broader agriculture industry. The strategic plan also reflects a coordinated effort by genomic researchers to avoid duplication and work as a team toward shared goals. 

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The strategic plan, initiated in November of 2022 with support from United Soybean Board (USB), outlined progress and future priorities in several areas: breeding, biotic interactions, physiology and abiotic stress, functional genomics, biotechnology, genomic resources, computational resources, and training the next generation. Dr. Stepar highlighted progress over the past five years, priorities for the next five to 10 years, and ongoing challenges.  

Several soybean genes have been cloned and characterized in recent years, along with continued development and use of mutant resources, gene-silencing techniques, and technologies that study single-cell behaviors. One challenge is that soybean seed does not remain viable as long as many other crops. Priorities include creating databases and data sets, as well as establishing a seed repository with long-term storage for mutant and biotech resources.  

Soybeans differ from other plants in their defense mechanisms, making it important to study and understand the key compounds, mechanisms and pathways involved. The strategic plan calls for soybeans to be established as a model for other plants and pathogen research. There is a desire for further work on resistance and susceptibility genes as well as the combined effects of biotic and abiotic factors on diseases. Lastly, many emerging pests and pathogens such as root knot nematode, red crown rot, and taproot decline are specifically called out in the strategic plan as priorities.

Both public and private breeding programs across the U.S. continue to release varieties with disease and stress resistance traits as well as composition traits such as high oleic/low linolenic and high oil, and specialty-use traits such as food grade. Continued germplasm and cultivar development is needed to optimize seed composition traits for both commodity and food uses, as well as to develop climate-resistant germplasm. Achieving this will require new loci or improved markers for marker-assisted selection, along with better optimization of genomic selection and prediction.  

The hope is that more breeders will use gene editing, make better use of wild soybeans, expand hybrid soybean production, adopt precision phenotyping, and apply predictive models that integrate genotypic, phenotypic and environmental data, as well as insights from microbiome research. Other soybean breeding priorities include upgrading support and equipment at land-grant universities, strengthening collaboration between public and private programs, enhancing genotyping centers, and improving public documentation of the use and impacts of public germplasm. 

There is growing concern about training the next generation, which includes not only students who are not yet engaged in soybean research but also farmers, agribusiness professionals, and government scientists and agencies. In addition to crop science, areas such as informatics, computer science, and artificial intelligence (AI) will be increasingly important in the future. University education must prepare students for private-sector careers, with a focus on identifying the right talent for these opportunities.  

There is also a great emphasis on securing new resources to fund graduate students, post docs and summer internships. Funding remains the greatest limitation, as much of the support for today's workforce has come from commodity boards such as the Illinois Soybean Association, and that funding is tied to soybean prices. Moving forward, creative solutions will be needed, including expanded public-private partnerships. 

Overall, I believe the Soybean Genomics Research Community strategic plan is a strong example of researchers in a related field coming together to identify priorities as a team and ensure that research efforts are not duplicated. Often, researchers are not aware they are duplicating or proposing similar research that others have already done. In many cases, there are opportunities for collaboration. Dr. Connor Sible, research assistant at the University of Illinois, recently shared with me that he was able to connect with Dr. Daren Mueller, professor and extension plant pathologist at Iowa State University, at the Field Advisor Forum last year. After connecting, Sible was given the opportunity to collaborate and contribute to a future research project. Another example is Dr. Boris Camiletti, assistant professor and extension plant pathologist at the University of Illinois, working with other plant pathologists and industry to combat red crown rot of soybean. Collaboration like this will become more important than ever as researchers face future funding challenges.