Find in Library

Background: The yield of soybean is limited by the soybean cyst nematode (SCN, <i>Heterodera glycines</i>). Soybean transformation plays a key role in gene function research but the stable genetic transformation of soybean usually takes half a year. Methods: Here, we constructed a vector, pNI-GmUbi, in an <i>Agrobacterium rhizogenes</i>-mediated soybean hypocotyl transformation to induce fluorescent hairy roots (FHRs). Results: We describe the operation of FHR-SCN, a fast, efficient and visual operation pathosystem to study the gene functions in the soybean-SCN interaction. With this method, FHRs were detected after 25 days in 4 cultivars (Williams 82, Zhonghuang 13, Huipizhiheidou and Peking) and at least 66.67% of the composite plants could be used to inoculate SCNs. The demographics of the SCN could be started 12 days post-SCN inoculation. Further, <i>GmHS1^pro-1</i> was overexpressed in the FHRs and <i>GmHS1^pro-1</i> provided an additional resistance in Williams 82. In addition, we found that jasmonic acid and JA-Ile increased in the transgenic soybean, implying that the resistance was mainly caused by affecting the content of JA and JA-Ile. Conclusions: In this study, we established a pathosystem, FHR-SCN, to verify the functional genes in soybeans and the SCN interaction. We also verified that <i>GmHS1^pro-1</i> provides additional resistance in both FHRs and transgenic soybeans, and the resistance may be caused by an increase in JA and JA-Ile contents.