Abstract
Soybean (Glycine max [L.] Merr.) seeds are rich in protein, most of which is contributed by the major storage proteins glycinin (11S globulin) and β-conglycinin (7S globulin). Null mutations for each of the subunits of these storage proteins were integrated by crossbreeding to yield a soybean line that lacks both glycinin and β-conglycinin components. In spite of the absence of these two major storage proteins, the mutant line grew and reproduced normally, and the nitrogen content of its dry seed was similar to that for wild-type cultivars. However, protein bodies appeared underdeveloped in the cotyledons of the integrated mutant line. Furthermore, whereas free amino acids contribute only 0.3–0.8% of the seed nitrogen content of wild-type varieties, they constituted 4.5–8.2% of the seed nitrogen content in the integrated mutant line, with arginine (Arg) being especially enriched in the mutant seeds. Seeds of the integrated mutant line thus appeared to compensate for the reduced nitrogen content in the form of glycinin and β-conglycinin by accumulating free amino acids as well as by increasing the expression of certain other seed proteins. These results indicate that soybean seeds are able to store nitrogen mostly in the form of either proteins or free amino acids.
Similar content being viewed by others
Abbreviations
- CBB:
-
Coomassie brilliant blue
- PVDF:
-
polyvinylidene difluoride
References
Beilinson V, Chen Z, Schoemaker RC, Fischer RL, Goldberg RB, Nielsen NC (2002) Genomic organization of glycinin genes in soybean. Theor Appl Genet 104:1132–1140
Brummer EC, Graef GL, Orf J, Wilcox JR, Schoemaker RC (1997) Mapping QTL for seed protein and oil content in eight soybean populations. Crop Sci 37:370–378
Dessen A, Gupta D, Sabesan S, Brewer CF, Sacchettini JC (1995) X-ray crystal structure of the soybean agglutinin cross-linked with a biantennary analog of the blood group I carbohydrate antigen. Biochemistry 34:4933–4942
Goldraij A, Polacco JC (1999) Arginase is inoperative in developing soybean embryos. Plant Physiol 119:297–303
Goldraij A, Polacco JC (2000) Arginine degradation by arginase in mitochondria of soybean seedling cotyledons. Planta 210:652–658
Grimes HD, Overvoorde PJ, Ripp K, Franceschi VR, Hitz WD (1992) A 62-kD sucrose binding protein is expressed and localized in tissues actively engaged in sucrose transport. Plant Cell 4:1561–1574
Hajika M, Takahashi M, Sakai S, Igita M (1996) A new genotype of 7S globulin (β-conglycinin) detected in wild soybean (Glycine soja Sieb. et Zucc.). Breed Sci 46:385–386
Hajika M, Takahashi M, Sakai S, Matsunaga R (1998) Dominant inheritance of a trait lacking β-conglycinin detected in a wild soybean line. Breed Sci 48:383–386
Harada K, Toyokawa Y, and Kitamura K (1983) Genetic analysis of the most acidic 11S globulin subunit and related characters in soybean seeds. Jpn J Breed 33:23–30
Harada JJ, Barker SJ, Goldberg RB (1989) Soybean β-conglycinin genes are clustered in several DNA regions and are regulated by transcriptional and posttranscriptional processes. Plant Cell 1:415–425
Hayashi M, Harada K, Fujiwara T, Kitamura K (1998) Characterization of a 7S globulin-deficient mutant of soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merrill)). Mol Gen Genet 258:208–214
Iida S, Kusaba M, Nishio T (1997) Mutants lacking glutelin subunits in rice: mapping and combination of mutated glutelin genes. Theor Appl Genet 94:177–183
Kagawa H, Hirano H (1989) Sequence of a cDNA encoding soybean basic 7S globulin. Nucleic Acids Res 17:8868
Kaizuma N, Kowata H, Odanaka H (1989) Genetic variation on soybean seed proteins induced by irradiation. Rep Tohoku Br Crop Sci Japan 32:97–99
Kalinski A, Weisemann JM, Matthews BF, Herman EM (1990) Molecular cloning of a protein associated with soybean seed oil bodies that is similar to thiol proteases of the papain family. J Biol Chem 265:13843–13848
Keselman HJ, Rogan JC (1978) A comparison of the modified-Tukey and Scheffe methods of multiple comparisons for pairwise contrasts. J Am Stat Assoc 74:47–51
Kitamura K, Kaizuma N (1981) Mutant strains with low level of subunits of 7S globulin in soybean (Glycine max Merr.) seeds. Jpn J Breed 31:353–359
Kohno-Murase J, Murase M, Ichikawa H, Imamura J (1994) Effects of an antisense napin gene on seed storage compounds in transgenic Brassica napus seeds. Plant Mol Biol 26:1115–1124
Koshiyama I (1968) Chemical and physical properties of a 7S protein in soybean globulins. Cereal Chem 45:394–404
Laemmli UK (1970) Cleavage of structural proteins during the assembly of the head of bacteriophage T4. Nature 277:680–685
Larkins BA, Hurkman WJ (1978) Synthesis and deposition of zein in protein bodies of maize endosperm. Plant Physiol 62:256–263
Lee SH, Bailey MA, Mian MAR, Carter TE, Shipe ER, Ashley DA, Parrott WA, Hussey RS, Boerma HR (1996) RFLP loci associated with soybean seed protein and oil content across populations and locations. Theor Appl Genet 93:649–657
Micallef BJ, Shelp BJ (1989a) Arginine metabolism in developing soybean cotyledons I. Relationship to nitrogen nutrition. Plant Physiol 90:624–630
Micallef BJ, Shelp BJ (1989b) Arginine metabolism in developing soybean cotyledons II. Biosynthesis. Plant Physiol 90:631–634
Mori T, Utsumi S, Inaba H, Kitamura K, Harada K (1981) Differences in subunit composition of glycinin among soybean cultivars. J Agric Food Chem 29:20–23
Nielsen NC (1985) The structure and complexity of the 11S polypeptides in soybean. J Am Oil Chem Soc 62:1680–1686
Nielsen NC, Dickinson CD, Cho T-J, Thanh VH, Scallon BJ, Fischer RL, Sims TL, Drews GN, Goldberg RB (1989) Characterization of the glycinin gene family from soybean. Plant Cell 1:313–328
Odanaka H, Kaizuma N (1989) Mutants on soybean storage proteins induced with γ-ray irradiation. Jpn J Breed [Suppl 1] 39:430–431
Ogawa T, Tayama E, Kitamura K, Kaizuma N (1989) Genetic improvement of seed storage proteins using three variant alleles of 7S globulin subunits in soybean (Glycine max L.). Jpn J Breed 39:137–147
Oria MP, Hamaker BR, Axtell JD, Huang CP (2000) A highly digestible sorghum mutant cultivar exhibits a unique folded structures of endosperm protein bodies. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 97:5065–5070
Phan TH, Kaizuma N, Odabaka H, Takahata Y (1996) Specific inheritance of a mutant gene controlling α, β subunits-null of β-conglycinin in soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merrill) and observation of chloroplast ultrastructure of the mutant. Breed Sci 46:53–59
Rainbird RM, Throne JH, Hardy RW (1984) Role of amides, amino acids and ureides in the nutrition of developing soybean seeds. Plant Physiol 74:329–334
Reyes AA, Karl IE, Klahr S (1994) Role of arginine in health and in renal disease. Am J Physiol 267:331–346
Shibata D, Steczko J, Dixon JE, Hermodson M, Yazdanparast R, Axelrod B (1987) Primary structure of soybean lipoxygenase-1. J Biol Chem 262:10080–10085
Smith RR, Weber CR (1968) Mass selection by specific gravity for protein and oil soybean population. Crop Sci 8:373–377
Staswick PE, Hermodson MA, Nielsen NC (1981) Identification of the acidic and basic subunit complexes of glycinin. J Biol Chem 256:8752–8755
Staswick PE, Hermodson MA, Nielsen NC (1984) Identification of the cystines which link the acidic and basic components of the glycinin subunits. J Biol Chem 259:13431–13435
Stebbins NE, Holland MA, Cianzio SR, Polacco JC (1991) Genetic tests of the roles of the embryonic ureases of soybean. Plant Physiol 97:1004–1010
Takahashi K, Banba H, Kikuchi A, Ito M, Nakamura S (1994) An induced mutant line lacking the α-subunit of β-conglycinin in soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merrill). Breed Sci 46:65–66
Teraishi M, Takahashi M, Hajika M, Matsunaga R, Uematsu Y, Ishimoto M (2001) Suppression of soybean β-conglycinin genes by a dominant gene, Scg-1. Theor Appl Genet 103:1266–1272
Thanh VH, Shibasaki K (1976) Major proteins of soybean seeds: a straightforward fractionation and their characterization. J Agric Food Chem 24:1117–1121
Thanh VH, Shibasaki K (1977) Beta-conglycinin from soybean proteins. Isolation and immunological and physicochemical properties of the monomeric forms. Biochim Biophys Acta 490:370–384
Thanh VH, Shibasaki K (1978) Major proteins of soybean seeds. Subunit structure of β-conglycinin. J Agric Food Chem 26:692–695
Wang X, Larkins BA (2001) Genetic analysis of amino acid accumulation in opaque-2 maize endosperm, Plant Physiol 125:1766–1777
Wilson KA, Rightmire BR, Chen JC, Tan-Wilson AL (1986) Differential proteolysis of glycinin and β-conglycinin polypeptides during soybean germination and seedling growth. Plant Physiol 82:71–76
Wilson KA, Papastoitsis G, Hartl P, Tan-Wilson AL (1988) Survey of the proteolytic activities degrading the Kunitz trypsin inhibitor and glycinin in germinating soybeans (Glycine max). Plant Physiol 88:355–360
Wolf WJ (1969) Soybean protein nomenclature: progress report. Cereal Sci Today 14:75–78
Wu G, Meininger CJ, Knabe DA, Bazer FW, Rhoads JM (2000) Arginine nutrition in development, health and disease. Curr Opin Clin Nutr Metab Care 3:59-66
Yagasaki K, Kaizuma N, Kitamura K (1996) Inheritance of glycinin subunits and characterization of glycinin molecules lacking the subunits in soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr.). Breed Sci 46:11–15
Acknowledgements
We thank S. Naito (Graduate School of Agriculture, Hokkaido University) for providing the antiserum specific to β-conglycinin, T. Nagamine (National Agricultural Research Center for Western Region) for his help in amino-acid sequencing, and R. Masuda (National Institute of Crop Science) and H. Hasegawa (Hokko Chem. Industry Company) for their technical suggestions in total and free amino acid analysis.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Takahashi, M., Uematsu, Y., Kashiwaba, K. et al. Accumulation of high levels of free amino acids in soybean seeds through integration of mutations conferring seed protein deficiency. Planta 217, 577–586 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00425-003-1026-3
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00425-003-1026-3