Cellectis plant sciences reports generation of High Oleic Soybean in Journal of Plant Biotechnology
Published on May 23, 2014
New Brighton (Minnesota, USA), May 23, 2014 – Cellectis plant sciences, the plant genome engineering company, today announced the peer-reviewed publication in the Journal of Plant Biotechnology of results demonstrating the generation of a high oleic soybean variety created by the targeted gene editing of 4 alleles of the FAD2 gene family.
The high oleic soybean line engineered by Cellectis plant sciences shows an oleic acid content of >80%.
Soybean oil with elevated oleic acid is desirable for improved shelf life, enhanced oxidative stability and better nutritional quality. The health issues raised by trans-fatty acids have severely limited the use of soybean oil in fried food. Raising the level of oleic acid to ~80%, from ~20% found in commodity oil, reduces the need for hydrogenation and the resulting production of trans-fatty acids in processed soybean oil. The United Soybean Board has projected acreage of high oleic soybean to reach 18-23 million acres in the U.S. by 2023. To meet this demand, Cellectis plant sciences has now created non-transgenic high oleic soybean plants.
“The generation of Non Transgenic High Oleic Soybean in less than 15 months positions Cellectis plant sciences as a key trait provider in the field of AgBiotech,” commented Luc Mathis CEO of Cellectis plant sciences. “The generation of non-transgenic traits has the potential to lower regulation costs, while providing products that show stable oil profiles over multiple generation, something that may be a challenge for transgenic technologies. With the technical success met in all our in-house programs in potato and oil crops, such as soybean and canola, the development of new commercial products relevant for the food industry has become the focus of our company.”
References: Journal of Plant Biotechnology
Improved soybean oil quality by targeted mutagenesis of the fatty acid desaturase 2 gene family
William Haun, Andrew Coffman, Benjamin M. Clasen, Zachary L. Demorest, Anita Lowy, Erin Ray, Adam Retterath, Thomas Stoddard, Alexandre Juillerat, Frederic Cedrone, Luc Mathis, Daniel F. Voytas and Feng Zhang
Article first published online: May 23, 2014
DOI: 10.1111/pbi.12201