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ARS Home » Midwest Area » West Lafayette, Indiana » Crop Production and Pest Control Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #308810
Title: Novel FAD2-1A alleles confer an elevated oleic acid phenotype in soybean seeds

Author
item THAPA, RIMA - Purdue University
item Carrero-Colon, Militza
item Crowe, Marissa
item Gaskin, Erik
item Hudson, Karen

Submitted to: Crop Science
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 8/21/2015
Publication Date: 12/30/2015
Citation: Thapa, R., Carrero-Colon, M., Crowe, M.D., Gaskin, E.L., Hudson, K.A. 2015. Novel FAD2-1A alleles confer an elevated oleic acid phenotype in soybean seeds. Crop Science. 56:226-231.

Interpretive Summary: The soybean seed has valuable and important uses in the production of oils used in biofuels, industrial lubricants, and fats for human consumption. One component of soybean oil is oleic acid, which confers stability and confers health benefits to soybean oil, reducing the need for hydrogenation to remove saturated fats. Genetically increasing the amount of oleic acid in soybean seeds is one potential way to obtain a healthier oil. This work describes soybean lines which carry a mutant gene which causes them to accumulate more oleic acid. Identification of the mutations allows soybean breeders to follow the gene. These soybean lines will be used in breeding for improved seed oil composition.

Technical Abstract: To identify novel sources of genetic variation for the high oleic acid seed trait, soybean lines containing a higher fraction than normal of oleic acid were identified through a forward-genetic screen of a chemically mutagenized population. Mutant lines contained 30%- 40% of the oil fraction as oleic acid. Eight of the lines identified contained novel point mutations in the FAD2-1a gene known to be required for the conversion of oleic acid to linoleic acid. Mutation-specific markers were developed to follow the mutant gene in segregating populations and confirm the genetic association of the novel polymorphism with the elevated oleic acid trait. These lines can be used in breeding approaches, and in combination with other genes to generate new germplasm with high levels of oleic acid for the edible oil market.