The major use of the ten billion pounds or so of soybean oil produced in the US is for food products such as cooking oils, shortenings and margarines. Refined, bleached and deodorized (RED) soybean oil used for cooking is usually hydrogenated to increase storage life and stability during frying. RED soybean oil is also extensively hydrogenated to increase melting point for functionality in shortenings and margarines. Hydrogenation results in oils rich in trans fatty acids, the consumption of which may be associated with coronary heart disease. RED oils used for salad oils are not hydrogenated but are rich in palmitic acid, the consumption of which has also been associated with coronary heart disease. Therefore, it is nutritionally desirable to produce trans-free soybean oils rich in monounsaturated fatty acids with reduced palmitic acid for cooking and soybean oils with no saturated fatty acids for salad oils. It is also desirable to produce trans-free oils rich in stearic and oleic acids for shortenings and margarines. Cloned genes may be introduced into soybeans to create transgenic lines with improved oil traits. The design of transgene constructs has been assisted by the use of soybean somatic embryos in suspension culture as a model system for soybean seed transformation. This system has allowed the selection of the right genes and promoters to achieve the desired phenotypes in transgenic soybeans. Current soybeans in development include lines producing oil with reduced palmitic acid, lines with over 80% oleic acid and lines with up to 30% stearic acid. Commercialization of high oleic acid transgenic soybeans has demonstrated that it is possible to drastically alter the fatty acid composition of a soybean seed without affecting the yield or environmental sensitivity of the soybean plant.
