Differences in Gene Expression in Germinated Soybean Seeds Among Four Cultivars, as Identified by Single Seed High-Throughput RNA Sequencing

Gene expression in individual germinated seeds of four different soybean (Glycine max [L.] Merr.) cultivars, GL3494, OAC Kent, Williams 82, and Jackson, was examined using single seed high-throughput RNA sequencing (ssRNA-seq). The gene expression was similar between two individual seeds of the same cultivar, but different among individual seeds of the four cultivars. Notably, ssRNA-seq identified five genes that were not stably expressed in Williams 82, having either no detectable sequence reads or less than five sequence reads mapped to the exon regions of chromosomes in Williams 82. These findings were validated by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction analysis. The study’s results demonstrate that gene expression in germinated seeds is unique to an individual seed from each soybean cultivar. This uniqueness may affect composition and content of nutrients in germinated soybeans used as food ingredients.