Abstract
Plants have numerous fatty acid desaturase (FAD) enzymes regulating the unsaturation of fatty acids, which are encoded by a FAD gene family. The FAD2 genes belong to such family and play a vital role in converting monounsaturated oleic acid to polyunsaturated linoleic acid. Oleic acid has the health benefits for humans, such as reduction in cholesterol level, antioxidation property, and industrial benefits like longer shelf life. The development of genotypes with high oleic acid content in seeds has become one of the primary goals in breeding oilseed plants. The identification and characterization of the FAD2 genes in plants have been an important step to better manipulate gene expression to improve the seed oil quality. The induction of mutations in FAD2 genes to reduce FAD2 enzyme activity has been an integral approach to generate genotypes with high oleic acid. This chapter will describe the FAD2 gene family in the model organism soybean and the correction of mutations in FAD2 genes with the increase of oleic acid content. Leveraging advanced research of FAD2 gene family in soybean promotes the study of FAD2 genes in other legume species, including peanut. The future perspectives and challenges associated with mutations in FAD2 genes will be discussed.
Highlights
The legume family (Leguminosae) is the third-largest family of flowering plants, with over 800 genera and 20,000 species, after the Orchidaceae and Asteraceae [1]
The fatty acid profile of the seed was dramatically changed in plants with homozygous mutations in both FAD2–1A and FAD2–1B, resulting in oleic acid increasing from 20% to 80% and linoleic acid decreased from 50% to under 4% [60]
Fatty acids are essential components of cellular membranes and storage lipids that are regulated in part through the action of fatty acid desaturases (FADs) and related enzymes
Summary
The legume family (Leguminosae) is the third-largest family of flowering plants, with over 800 genera and 20,000 species, after the Orchidaceae and Asteraceae [1] It is classified into three sub-families: Papilionoideae, Caesalpinioideae, and Mimosoideae based on morphological characters [1]. Papilionoideae is the largest sub-family consisting of 476 genera and ~ 14,000 species, including most of the economically important legumes [4]. Within the Papilionoideae, there are four clades, phaseoloids, galegoids, genistoids, and dalbergoids, based on phylogenetic analyses [1, 4] These clades cover the economically important food and feed legumes. Comprehensive biology study in the model organisms facilitates the transference of biological knowledge, gene function and expression, genomic information, and advanced tools to crop species. Mutations induced in FAD2 genes and consequences from soybean to crop species, including peanut, are discussed
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