Modifying soybean oil composition through targeted knockout of the fad3a/b/c genes

Abstract

Materials and methods are provided for making soybean varieties that have altered oil composition as a result of mutations in the FAD3A, FAD3B, and FAD3C genes.

1 . A soybean plant, plant part, or plant cell comprising deletions in:
 one or more FAD3A alleles,   one or more FAD3B alleles,   one or more FAD3C alleles,   one or more FAD2-1A alleles, and   one or more FAD2-1B alleles,   
       wherein said plant, plant part, or plant cell produces oil that has decreased linolenic acid content, increased oleic acid content, and decreased linoleic acid content as compared to oil produced from a corresponding wild type soybean plant, plant part, or plant cell. 
     
     
         2 . The soybean plant, plant part, or plant cell of  claim 1 , wherein each deletion within said one or more FAD3A alleles, one or more FAD3B alleles, and one or more FAD3C alleles is at a sequence within SEQ ID NO:24, SEQ ID NO:25, or SEQ ID NO:26, and wherein each deletion within said one or more FAD2-1A alleles and said one or more FAD2-1B alleles is at a sequence within SEQ ID NO:43 or SEQ ID NO:44. 
     
     
         3 . The soybean plant, plant part, or plant cell of  claim 1 , wherein said deletions were induced by rare-cutting endonucleases targeted specifically to FAD3A alleles, FAD3B alleles, FAD3C alleles, FAD2-1A alleles, and FAD2-1B alleles. 
     
     
         4 . (canceled) 
     
     
         5 . The soybean plant, plant part, or plant cell of  claim 1 , wherein the plant, plant part, or plant cell does not contain a transgene. 
     
     
         6 . The soybean plant, plant part, or plant cell of  claim 1 , wherein the plant part is a seed. 
     
     
         7 . The soybean plant, plant part, or plant cell of  claim 1 , wherein the linolenic acid content is less than 4.3%. 
     
     
         8 . A method for making a soybean plant comprising a deletion in
 one or more FAD3A alleles,   one or more FAD3B alleles,   one or more FAD3C alleles,   one or more FAD2-1A, and   one or more FAD2-1B alleles, the method comprising:   (a) contacting a population of soybean plant parts or plant cells comprising functional FAD3A, FAD3B, FAD3C, FAD2-1A, and FAD2-1B alleles with rare-cutting endonucleases specifically targeted to one or more endogenous FAD3A sequences, one or more endogenous FAD3B sequences, one or more endogenous FAD3C sequences, one or more endogenous FAD2-1A sequences, and one or more endogenous FAD2-1B sequences,   (b) regenerating the soybean plant parts or plant cells into whole soybean plants, and   (c) selecting from the whole soybean plants a soybean plant comprising a deletion in   said one or more FAD3A alleles,   said one or more FAD3B alleles,   said one or more FAD3C alleles,   said one or more FAD2-1A alleles, and   said one or more FAD2-1B alleles.   
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the soybean plant parts or plant cells are selected from the group consisting of cotyledon cells, seeds, embryos, embryogenic calli cells, and pollen cells. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 8 , comprising transforming said soybean plant parts or plant cells with one or more vectors encoding said one or more rare-cutting endonucleases. 
     
     
         11 . (canceled) 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein said rare-cutting endonucleases are TAL effector endonucleases, and wherein the method comprises introducing TAL effector endonuclease proteins into the plant parts or plant cells. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 8 , further comprising culturing said plant parts or plant cells to generate plant lines.