Soybean farmers soon will be one step closer to better drought-tolerant
soybean varieties. University of Missouri researchers will construct a
comprehensive database of all proteins and metabolites in soybeans. Once
compiled, the database will allow researchers to study changes in proteins
and metabolites in soybeans grown under drought and other stressed
conditions. When combined with data from the recently released soybean
genome, scientists will have a very powerful set of tools that will help
breeders engineer better-performing soybean plants. The research project
will be funded by a new three-year, $1.1 million grant awarded by the United
Soybean Board (USB).


?Using the analogy of a car, the genome represents a ?parts list? and the
proteins and metabolites represent the ?parts? themselves,? said plant
scientist Henry Nguyen, lead investigator on the USB project and director of
the National Center for Soybean Biotechnology at MU. ?When the genome is
complete, we will have the ?parts list?. Now, we need to know how many of
each part is needed, where they are located and how they contribute to the
overall performance of the ?car?.?

To assemble the parts, Nguyen and two of his fellow investigators in the MU
Interdisciplinary Plant Group, Gary Stacey and Dong Xu, are combining their
expertise in plant physiology, molecular genetics and computational biology
to create a comprehensive database of all proteins and metabolites found in
the soybean seed, leaf and roots. Once completed, the database will be
available to the entire soybean community.

In addition, they will study how proteins and metabolites change in these
tissues in response to drought and different pathogen attacks.

?Plants turn certain proteins and metabolites on or off or up or down in
response to environmental cues,? said Nguyen, who also is an investigator in
the Christopher S. Bond Life Sciences Center. ?For example, a soybean plant
grown under drought conditions will send out a deeper root or increase root
branching. These changes in the physical attributes of the plant arise from
changes in proteins and metabolites.?

Nguyen and his colleagues said that the database will be used to create
computerized soybean models that can predict changes in the physiology and
biology of the plant under changing environmental conditions. Such models
can then be used to engineer better performing varieties.

The USB is a farmer-led organization composed of 62 farmer-directors. The
USB oversees the investments of the soybean check off on behalf of all U.S.
soybean farmers.
www.checkbiotech.org