Genetic Improvement of the Fatty Acid Biosynthesis System to Alter the ω‐6/ω‐3 Ratio in the Soybean Seed. (30th September 2017) - Kulkarni, Krishnanand P.
Abstract: A high ω‐6/ω‐3 fatty acid ratio in the soybean seed adversely affects human health. The objective of the present study was to improve the fatty acid biosynthesis to reduce the ω‐6/ω‐3 ratio by combining the FAD2 ‐ 1A and FAD2 ‐ 1B mutant alleles with α‐linolenic acid (ω‐3) related alleles from wild soybean. The F2 population comprising 2320 F 2:3 lines developed from S08‐14717 × PI 483463 cross exhibited significant variation for fatty acid components. Of these, 114 lines were advanced to the F 5:6 generation and genotyped for FAD2 ‐ 1A and FAD2 ‐ 1B alleles. The lines carrying mutant FAD2 ‐ 1A and FAD2 ‐ 1B alleles showed ~ 761 g kg −1 oleic, and ~ 50 g kg −1 linoleic acids, which reduced ω‐6/ω‐3 ratios to ~ 0.6. Conversely, the lines carrying FAD2 ‐ 1A or FAD2 ‐ 1B mutant alleles had 267 or 399 g kg −1 oleic, 327 or 471 g kg −1 linoleic, and 120 or 130 g kg −1 α‐linolenic acids concentration, respectively. The elevated α‐linolenic acid resulted in the reduction of ω‐6/ω‐3 ratios in the range 2.5–3.9. The present study demonstrated that combining FAD2 mutant alleles with α‐linolenic acid‐related alleles from wild soybean reduces the seed ω‐6/ω‐3 ratio.