Modification of fatty acid composition in soybean seeds to improve soybean oil quality and functionality

Abstract

The purpose of this project is to modify the fatty acid composition in soybean seeds to improve soybean oil quality and functionality. By sequencing the FAD2-1A and FAD2-1B genes in 24 plant introductions, we identified two novel mutant alleles: one for each gene that is responsible for the elevated oleic acid content in four plant introductions. The combination of the newly identified mutant FAD2-1B allele with existing or the novel mutant FAD2-1A alleles created soybean lines with more than 80% oleic acid content. Combination of two mutant FAD2-1A and FAD2-1B with mutant FAD3A or mutant FAD3C or both resulted in high oleic acid content of 80 - 85% and linolenic acid content in the range from 1.5 - 4%. Perfect molecular markers associated with these mutant alleles were designed to help select the soybean lines with genotypes of interest in early generations in breeding. The high oleic acid and high oleic acid low linolenic soybeans produced have an improved stability across growing environments compared to existing sources.