Molecular mapping of a novel male-sterile gene msNJ in soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.].

Nuclear male sterility (NMS) is a potential characteristic in crop recurrent selection and hybrid breeding. Mapping of nuclear male-sterile genes is key to utilizing NMS. Previously, we discovered a spontaneous soybean (Glycine max [L.] Merr.) male-sterile female-fertile mutant NJS-13H, which was conferred by a single recessive gene, designated ms_NJ. In this study, the ms_NJ was mapped to Chromosome 10 (LG O), and narrowed down between two SSR (simple sequence repeats) markers, BARCSOYSSR_10_794 and BARCSOYSSR_10_819 using three heterozygote-derived segregating populations, i.e., (NJS-13H × NN1138-2)F₂, (NJS-13H × N2899)F₂ and (NJS-13H)SPAG (segregating populations in advanced generations). This region spans approximately 1.32 Mb, where 27 genes were annotated according to the soybean reference genome sequence (Wm82.a2.v1). Among them, four genes were recognized as candidate genes for ms_NJ. Comparing to the physical locations of all the known male-sterile loci, ms_NJ is demonstrated to be a new male-sterile locus. This result may help the utilization and cloning of the gene.