Improving soybean seed oil without poor agronomics

Abstract

Manipulating seed oil content and composition is a major goal for plant biotechnologists. However, some of these modifications generate undesired effects, affecting plant growth and yield, and, thereby, decreasing market value. In this work, Lakhssassi et al. (2020) describe the application of an improved TILLING technique (TILLING-bysequencing+) that was successful in obtaining soybean lines with mutations in novel members of the GmSACPD family. These lines showed higher stearic acid levels without compromising nodulation and growth yield. This work shows how powerful the joint utilization of conventional TILLING techniques and next-generation sequencing can be, helping breeders and biotechnologists to overcome metabolic bottlenecks or undesirable growth phenotypes.