Inheritance of Reduced Palmitic Acid Content in Seed Oil of Soybean

Reduction of the palmitic acid content of soybean [ Glycine max (L.) Merr.] would lower the total saturated fatty acid content of the seed oil. A mutant line, A1937NMU‐173, with ≈30 g kg ‐1 less palmitic acid than commercial soybean cultivars was obtained by the treatment of seeds of the cultivar A1937 with N ‐nitroso‐ N ‐methyl‐urea (NMU). To determine the genetic control of the reduced palmitic acid, A1937NMU‐173 was crossed reciprocally to C1726, a line with the fap1 allele that lowers the palmitic acid content. No maternal effect for palmitic acid was observed from the analysis of F 1 seeds from reciprocal crosses. The segregation observed from the analysis of individual F 2 seeds for palmitic acid content satisfactorily fit a ratio of 9 greater than either parent: 2 within the range of the parents: 5 less tahn either parent. The F 2 segregation ratio and the segregation of F 3 seeds from F 2 plants indicated that A1937NMU‐173 and C1726 have different alleles at two independent loci. The allele in A1937NMU‐137 has temporarily been designed fapx . the genotype fap1 fap1 fapx fapx has ≈ g kg ‐1 of palmitic acid, which is the lowest content known in soybean.