Soybean as a Model Crop to Study Plant Oil Genes: Mutations in FAD2 Gene Family

Abstract

Plants have numerous fatty acid desaturase (FAD) enzymes regulating the unsaturation of fatty acids, which are encoded by a FAD gene family. The FAD2 genes belong to such family and play a vital role in converting monounsaturated oleic acid to polyunsaturated linoleic acid. Oleic acid has the health benefits for humans, such as reduction in cholesterol level, antioxidation property, and industrial benefits like longer shelf life. The development of genotypes with high oleic acid content in seeds has become one of the primary goals in breeding oilseed plants. The identification and characterization of the FAD2 genes in plants have been an important step to better manipulate gene expression to improve the seed oil quality. The induction of mutations in FAD2 genes to reduce FAD2 enzyme activity has been an integral approach to generate genotypes with high oleic acid. This chapter will describe the FAD2 gene family in the model organism soybean and the correction of mutations in FAD2 genes with the increase of oleic acid content. Leveraging advanced research of FAD2 gene family in soybean promotes the study of FAD2 genes in other legume species, including peanut. The future perspectives and challenges associated with mutations in FAD2 genes will be discussed.