Purpose

Some individuals have allergic reactions to soy products. Soybean sensitivity is a problem for 5% to 8% of children (babies) and 1% to 2% of adults. Some few reactions are life threatening.

Soybeans have played a central role in the concerns about genetically engineered introduced allergens and in using GE to remove intrinsic allergens. Biotechnology critics have claimed that an apparent rise in the number of soybean allergic individuals in the UK is correlated with the development of GE soybeans for the American market.

The dominant human allergen in soybean is a cysteine protease family member called P34 and Gly BD 30k. A seed-specific knockout of P34 has been produced using sense co suppression and homozygous lines lacking P34 have been developed.

Project

This project will conduct a large survey of the soybean germplasm collection (over 16,000 lines) with the objective to identify a P34 null line that could be used to provide an alternative to the genetically engineered knockout.

This project teams the laboratory of the PI who discovered the P34 allergen and has conducted comprehensive studies on it with CoPI's laboratory that has extensive experience in soybean diversity, genetics, and collections.

Impact

Identification of such a null line will permit this trait to be bred into elite germplasm and provide a potentially useful and valuable trait that could be exploited by soybean producers.