Location: Plant Genetics Research
Project Number: 5070-21000-040-027-R
Project Type: Reimbursable Cooperative Agreement
Start Date: Oct 1, 2019
End Date: Jan 31, 2022
Objective:
The two major proteinaceous anti-nutritional factors (ANFs) in soybean meal are the Kunitz- trypsin inhibitors (KTi) and Bowman-Birk inhibitors (BBi). We propose to develop soybean germplasm that will benefit the end users by drastically lowering or eliminating two major proteinaceous anti-nutritional factors (ANFs) in soybean meal, Kunitz- trypsin inhibitors (KTi) and Bowman-Birk inhibitors (BBi.
Approach:
Previous research by our group identified a combination of two mutant genes that results in significantly lower trypsin inhibitor activity than has previously been reported by any soybean group. However, these alleles are not currently in modern, adapted lines. We propose to perform three directed crosses over the first 2 years of the project in order to create lines which capture both acceptable seed yield and the uniquely reduced ANF activity, using a combination of both forward- and back-crossing. Additionally, we also propose to use gene editing, via the CRISPR CAS9 system, in order to induce deletion mutations which will inactivate all seed expressed BBi genes in a high-yielding cultivar of soybean.
