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BIOCHEMICAL PROCESSES AND MACROMOLECULAR STRUCTURES

Expression of Umbelopsis ramanniana DGAT2A in Seed Increases Oil in Soybean^1,[OA]

Calgene Campus, Monsanto Company, Davis, California 95616

Oilseeds are the main source of lipids used in both food and biofuels. The growing demand for vegetable oil has focused research toward increasing the amount of this valuable component in oilseed crops. Globally, soybean (Glycine max) is one of the most important oilseed crops grown, contributing about 30% of the vegetable oil used for food, feed, and industrial applications. Breeding efforts in soy have shown that multiple loci contribute to the final content of oil and protein stored in seeds. Genetically, the levels of these two storage products appear to be inversely correlated with an increase in oil coming at the expense of protein and vice versa. One way to overcome the linkage between oil and protein is to introduce a transgene that can specifically modulate one pathway without disrupting the other. We describe the first, to our knowledge, transgenic soy crop with increased oil that shows no major impact on protein content or yield. This was achieved by expressing a codon-optimized version of a diacylglycerol acyltransferase 2A from the soil fungus Umbelopsis (formerly Mortierella) ramanniana in soybean seed during development, resulting in an absolute increase in oil of 1.5% (by weight) in the mature seed.

² Present address: Monsanto Company, 700 Chesterfield Parkway West, Chesterfield, MO 63017.

³ Present address: Monsanto Company, 800 N. Lindbergh Boulevard, Creve Coeur, MO 63141.

⁴ Present address: Monsanto Company, 5926 E. US Highway 14, Janesville, WI 53546.

The author responsible for distribution of materials integral to the findings presented in this article in accordance with the policy described in the Instructions for Authors (www.plantphysiol.org) is: Kathryn Lardizabal (kathy.lardizabal{at}monsanto.com).

^[OA] Open Access articles can be viewed online without a subscription.

www.plantphysiol.org/cgi/doi/10.1104/pp.108.123042

^* Corresponding author; e-mail kathy.lardizabal{at}monsanto.com.

Received May 15, 2008; accepted July 9, 2008; published July 16, 2008.

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