Production of Unique Mutant Lines of Glycine max through the Use of Mutagenesis

Changing the fatty acid profile within soybean (Glycine max) has the ability to greatly improve soybean oil composition. These different fatty acid profiles will have different applications in the commercial sector. Soybean lines with higher stearic acid can be utilized for the production of biodiesel. Mutation breeding is used to change unique amino acid characteristics within specific alleles that would be unachievable though traditional methods. The seeds that are exposed to the mutagen ethyl-methanesulfonate (EMS) possess different characteristics than the parent seeds. EMS is applied to the soybean line ‘Forrest’ in order to create a mutant line (M1) of soybeans, which is grown to seed in a greenhouse to create a M2 generation. The M2 seeds were grown in field condition and the seeds collected (M3) were analyzed for oil content and composition. The analyzed M3 generation had many lines which were significantly higher and lower  averages than the parental line for the different fatty acids present in soybean oil. There are many lines which are ideal for breeding, having extremely high and low values for the fatty acids. These lines show the best avenues for diversifying the breeding stock in soybeans (Glycine max).