Bioscience Evidence 2025, Vol.15, No.5, 237-248 http://bioscipublisher.com/index.php/be 238 soybean quality. It is hoped that by integrating the latest achievements, theoretical support and practical guidance can be provided for the cultivation of high-protein and high-oil content soybeans. 2 Overview of Soybean Protein and Oil Biosynthesis 2.1 Protein biosynthesis pathways: storage proteins (glycinin, β-conglycinin), regulatory nodes There are mainly two types of proteins in soybean seeds: glycoprotein (glycinin, 11S) and β-conglycinin (β-conglycinin, 7S), which account for almost all of soy protein (Xu et al., 2022). Protein synthesis relies on amino acid supply, and amino acids come from metabolic processes such as glycolysis, the tricarboxylic acid cycle (TCA), and the pentose phosphate pathway (Xu et al., 2022; Mo et al., 2024). The key links include the synthesis, transportation and storage of amino acids, as well as the expression of protein genes. For example, the transcription factor GmESR1 can promote protein accumulation by regulating the phenylpropane pathway and sucrose transport. Sugar transporters (such as GmSWEET10a/b) also affect the distribution of proteins and fats (Jin et al., 2023). 2.2 Oil biosynthesis pathways: fatty acid and triacylglycerol synthesis, central metabolic regulation Soybean oil mainly exists in the form of triacylglycerol (TAG). Fatty acid synthesis begins in plastids, and key enzymes include acetyl-coA carboxylase (ACCase), hydroxy-acyl-ACP dehydrase, and ketoacyl-ACP synthase, etc. (Xu et al., 2022; Zhao et al., 2023). The synthesized fatty acids are activated by long-chain acyl-coA synthase (LACS), then transported to the endoplasmic reticulum, and finally assembled into TAG (Xu et al., 2022; Zhao et al., 2023). Transcription factors such as GmWRI1a, GmVOZ1A, GmZF351, GmZF392, etc., can regulate related genes and significantly increase lipid content (Li et al., 2017; Chen et al., 2018; Lu et al., 2021; Yang et al., 2024; Wei et al., 2025). The DGAT (diacylglycerol acyltransferase) family genes play a rate-limiting role in TAG synthesis and are a key point for lipid accumulation (Zhao et al., 2023). Glycolysis and the TCA cycle are closely linked to fatty acid synthesis, and the distribution of carbon flow has an important impact on the accumulation of proteins and fats (Mo et al., 2024; Badia et al., 2025). 2.3 Nutritional and industrial significance: quality traits influencing end-use Soy protein contains 18 kinds of amino acids, including all essential amino acids, and is an important source of nutrition for humans and animals. However, sulfur-containing amino acids (such as methionine and cysteine) are relatively scarce, which limits their nutritional value (Xu et al., 2022; Hooker et al., 2025). Soybean oil is mainly composed of linoleic acid, oleic acid and alpha-linolenic acid. The composition of fatty acids directly determines the nutrition and industrial quality of edible oil (Lakhssassi et al., 2021; Xu et al., 2022; Zhao et al., 2023). High-protein and high-oil content soybeans can not only increase the value of food, feed and industrial raw materials, but also meet the demands of healthy food, functional food and bioenergy (Lakhssassi et al., 2021; Xu et al., 2022). Therefore, understanding the molecular mechanisms of protein and lipid synthesis provides a foundation and direction for quality improvement and multi-purpose utilization. 3 Genetic Basis of Protein Content 3.1 Major QTLs and loci: insights from linkage mapping and GWAS Soy protein content is a typical quantitative trait, which is jointly regulated by many genes. Through traditional linkage mapping and genome-wide association analysis (GWAS), researchers identified hundreds of related QTLS on the 20 chromosomes of soybeans. Especially on chromosomes 15 and 20, major QTLS (such as qPro15-1, qPro20-1, qSPC_20-1, qSPC_20-2) have been repeatedly located. These QTLS are stable in different populations and environments. It can explain more than 40% of the phenotypic differences (Van and McHale, 2017; Zhang et al., 2019; Wang et al., 2021; Zhang et al., 2022; Park et al., 2023). The latest GWAS has also discovered some new loci, such as the region near cBL-interacting protein kinases on chromosome 11 (Kim et al., 2023; Potapova et al., 2025). Meta-QTL analysis integrated over 80 studies and identified 55 protein-related Meta-Qtls, further narrowing the candidate range (Van and McHale, 2017).
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