RESTRICTION-FRAGMENT-LENGTH-POLYMORPHISM ANALYSIS OF SOYBEAN FATTY-ACID CONTENT

The quality of soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] oil depends greatly upon its fatty acid composition. The objective of this study was to map quantitative trait loci affecting the relative content of the fatty acids composing soybean seed oil. The mapping was done in a population formed from a cross between a G. max experimental line and a G. soja plant introduction. Sixty F2-derived lines from this population were genotyped with 243 restriction fragment length polymorphism, five isozyme, one storage protein and three morphological markers. The genotyped lines were grown in a replicated trial, and the seed harvested was analyzed for palmitic, stearic, oleic, linoleic and linolenic fatty acids. Markers significantly (P > 0.005) associated with each fatty acid were found. Individual markers were associated with up to 38% of the total variance in specific fatty acids among the F2 lines. The greatest associations between markers and fatty acid content were observed with markers on two major linkage groups.