Rapid Genome‐wide Single Nucleotide Polymorphism Discovery in Soybean and Rice via Deep Resequencing of Reduced Representation Libraries with the Illumina Genome Analyzer

Massively parallel sequencing platforms have allowed for the rapid discovery of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) among related genotypes within a species. We describe the creation of reduced representation libraries (RRLs) using an initial digestion of nuclear genomic DNA with a methylation‐sensitive restriction endonuclease followed by a secondary digestion with the 4bp‐restriction endonuclease DpnII. This strategy allows for the enrichment of hypomethylated genomic DNA, which has been shown to be rich in genic sequences, and the digestion with DpnII serves to increase the number of common loci resequenced between individuals. Deep resequencing of these RRLs performed with the Illumina Genome Analyzer led to the identification of 2618 SNPs in rice and 1682 SNPs in soybean for two representative genotypes in each of the species. A subset of these SNPs was validated via Sanger sequencing, exhibiting validation rates of 96.4 and 97.0%, in rice (Oryza sativa) and soybean (Glycine max), respectively. Comparative analysis of the read distribution relative to annotated genes in the reference genome assemblies indicated that the RRL strategy was primarily sampling within genic regions for both species. The massively parallel sequencing of methylation‐sensitive RRLs for genome‐wide SNP discovery can be applied across a wide range of plant species having sufficient reference genomic sequence.