New Research Could Increase Soybean Protein Content

After 30 years of work, researchers at the University of Illinois have identified the gene with the biggest single contribution to soybean protein content.

“Soybeans are around 40% protein, and this gene increases that about 2%. It doesn't sound like a lot but compared to any other seed-protein gene that's been mapped for soybean, it's at least double,” said Brian Diers, the Charles Adlai Ewing Chair of Soybean Genetics and Breeding in the Department of Crop Sciences and co-author of the study in The Plant Journal.

If the high protein form of the gene can be put into commercially grown soybean varieties, it would represent at a ‘significant increase’ in the amount of protein available for livestock and humans worldwide. Indeed, even a single percentage point increase in the protein concentration would represent millions of tons of additional protein, according to a university release.

In 1992, then-graduate-student Diers published the first seed protein map for soybean. Although he identified the region of the genome where the gene might be located, it took three decades, many technological advances, and the publication of two soybean genomes to nail down the specific gene.

“It's satisfying to make the journey from being an eager young grad student, all excited about this finding, to finally determining what the gene is,” Diers said. “But if I go back to myself 30 years ago, I could never have imagined it would have taken this long. But better late than never.”

Although the discovery of the gene is complicated by a still-murky link between the gene and its role in increasing protein content, simply identifying the gene could have major consequences for global food security.

“If we can understand the mechanism, that should give us some clues as to how we can increase protein without decreasing yield,” Diers said.