Four‐allele combinations for high oleic, low linolenic soybeans

Abstract Soybean oil accounts for approximately 29% of global oil consumption. The polyunsaturated linoleic and linolenic acids comprise more than 60% of commodity soybean oil, while oleic acid makes up 20%. To make a healthier soybean oil with improved stability for food uses, genetic approaches in soybean composition breeding target reducing levels of linoleic and linolenic acids while simultaneously increasing the oleic acid fraction. Quadruple mutants were constructed to evaluate the combinations of fatty acid desaturase2 ( fad2 ) and fatty acid desaturase3 ( fad3 ) mutant alleles to achieve a high oleic, low linolenic soybean oil profile. Over three growing seasons we observed that all four combinations resulted in oleic acid levels from 75% to 82%, and linolenic acid levels from 1.9% to 2.7%. No significant differences in seed total protein or oil levels were observed in the quadruple mutants, suggesting that these combinations will be useful for breeding soybean with improved oil profiles.