Improvement of Protein Quality in Transgenic Soybean Plants

Glycinin is one of the major storage proteins in soybean seeds. Increasing the amount of glycinin, which is rich in sulfur-containing amino acids, has been the target of several research activities in order to obtain amino acid balance in soy protein. Soybean is an important component of livestock and poultry rations.

A transgenic approach for increasing glycinin in soybeans was presented by the group of H.A. El-Shemy and colleagues in Japan and Sudan. The researchers introduced a modified glycinin gene into soybean embryos via particle bombardment. The construct include a hygromycin phosphotransferase gene (hpt) as a selectable gene, and green fluorescent protein (sGFP) as a reporter gene.

El-Shemy’s group reported that the expression of sGFP was detected in about 50 % of the putative transgenic soybeans. They also observed that most of the transgenic plants developed normally and produced seeds. The group also observed that the seeds from the transgenic plants have higher levels of glycinin compared with non-transgenic plants.

The paper, published by Biologia Plantarum, can be accessed by subscribers at http://www.springerlink.com/content/q050781662816g86/.