Abstract
The objective of this work was to quantify the accumulation of the major seed storage protein subunits, β-conglycinin and glycinin, and how they influence yield and protein and oil contents in high-protein soybean genotypes. The relative accumulation of subunits was calculated by scanning SDS-PAGE gels using densitometry. The protein content of the tested genotypes was higher than control cultivar in the same maturity group. Several genotypes with improved protein content and with unchanged yield or oil content were developed as a result of new breeding initiatives. This research confirmed that high-protein cultivars accumulate higher amounts of glycinin and β-conglycinin. Genotypes KO5427, KO5428, and KO5429, which accumulated lower quantities of all subunits of glycinin and β-conglycinin, were the only exceptions. Attention should be given to genotypes KO5314 and KO5317, which accumulated significantly higher amounts of both subunits of glycinin, and to genotypes KO5425, KO5319, KO539 and KO536, which accumulated significantly higher amounts of β-conglycinin subunits. These findings suggest that some of the tested genotypes could be beneficial in different breeding programs aimed at the production of agronomically viable plants, yielding high-protein seed with specific composition of storage proteins for specific food applications.
Highlights
Soybean [Glycine max L. (Merr.)] is an important source of edible vegetable oil and protein throughout the world and is used in a multitude of food and industrial applications
The objective of the present work was to estimate the accumulation of the main seed storage protein subunits, glycinin and β‐conglycinin, among high‐protein soybean genotypes, and to determine whether these genotypes preferentially accumulate specific polypeptides and how this influences the yield and the protein and oil contents in different maturity groups
Protein contents differed significantly in all the soybean genotypes studied in all the maturity groups (Table 1)
Summary
Soybean [Glycine max L. (Merr.)] is an important source of edible vegetable oil and protein throughout the world and is used in a multitude of food and industrial applications. Seeds of the most commercially grown soybean cultivars contain an average of 360–380 g kg‐1 protein and 190 g kg‐1 oil; both genetic and environmental factors strongly influence seed composition (Brumm & Hurburgh Junior, 2002; Zarkadas et al, 2007). Protein meal is mainly used as a source of protein for animal husbandry. With the current increase in meat consumption, the demand for protein in animal husbandry has increased. A major impediment to increasing soybean protein through selective breeding lies in the negative correlation between protein content and yield, on one hand, and oil content and yield on the other (Burton, 1987). Soybean breeders have made notable progress in overcoming that negative correlation and have developed agronomically viable high protein cultivars (Cober & Voldeng, 2000; Wilcox, 2001)
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