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ARS Home » Midwest Area » West Lafayette, Indiana » Crop Production and Pest Control Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #377739
Research Project: Genetic Enhancement of Seed Quality and Plant Health Traits, and Designing Soybeans with Improved Functionality

Location: Crop Production and Pest Control Research

Title: Genetic variation for seed oil biosynthesis in soybean

Author
item Hudson, Karen
item HUDSON, MATTHEW - University Of Illinois

Submitted to: Plant Molecular Biology Reporter
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 12/23/2020
Publication Date: 3/29/2021
Citation: Hudson, K.A., Hudson, M.E. 2021. Genetic variation for seed oil biosynthesis in soybean. Plant Molecular Biology Reporter. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11105-020-01276-1.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11105-020-01276-1

Interpretive Summary: Oil from soybean seeds is used for a number of food and industrial purposes. Each end-use for this oil has specific requirements and different optimal chemical properties. For many years soybean breeders have identified and combined variation in the soybean genes that control fatty acid biosynthesis in the seed to meet various demands for different oil profiles. In this paper we describe the progress to date and describe mutations in two genes that we show can be used to improve soybean fatty acid composition.

Technical Abstract: Soybean is an important oilseed crop, with many industrial as well as food uses, and its significant production infrastructure makes it the second most valuable crop in the United States. In this manuscript we discuss a current understanding of fatty acid biosynthesis, based on soybean and other species, describe recent biotechnological approaches to improve or alter oil content and oil profile in soybean, and catalog the known variation in found in soybean fatty acid biosynthesis genes, including a characterization of novel induced variation within the FAD and KAS genes that impact seed fatty acid composition. We also discuss the implications of increased genomic data for composition improvement, using the known fatty acid biosynthestic genes as a case study.