1. Investigate the targeted protein and metabolite pathways associated with biotic stresses such as fungal and nematode infection, and abiotic stresses such as drought and temperature. This will help dissect these complex traits and provide candidate genes for functional analysis towards soybean improvement in the future. Proteins that are candidates for controlling developmental processes and stress responses will be identified by their molecular modifications.
2. Investigate the seed proteome and metabolome with respect to important quality traits (e.g. protein and oil) and the effect of abiotic stress (e.g. drought & temperature).
3. Implement more features and populate more data for SoyKB, an integrated database generated during the ongoing project period, and establish associations between molecular data and phenotypes, and make inferences of molecular markers for improving soybean agronomic performance such as yield, stress tolerance and value-added seed traits. Data will be provided to the soybean community through the available website, which can be searchable based on key word, protein sequence and other means.