Gene Expression and Isoflavone Concentrations in Soybean Sprouts Treated with Chitosan

Abstract

This study was undertaken to investigate whether chitosan treatments of sprouts of three soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] cultivars (OAC Champion, AC Orford, and AC Proteina) can increase not only concentration of isoflavones in sprouts but also the transcript levels of genes and their subfamilies encoding enzymes at key points of the phenylpropanoid pathway (phenylalanine ammonia‐lyase [E.C. 4.3.1.5], chalcone synthase [E.C. 2.3.1.74], chalcone isomerase [E.C. 5.5.1.6], and chalcone reductase [E.C. 2.3.1.170]), and at a key branch‐point enzyme in isoflavone biosynthesis (isoflavone synthase [E.C. 1.14.13.86]). Chitosan effects on transcript levels of 14 genes differed depending on the cultivar as demonstrated by significant interactions (P < 0.05) between soybean cultivar and chitosan treatment for all genes. For all cultivars, response to chitosan treatments varied significantly depending on the gene. Overall, the greatest response was observed with high molecular weight chitosan. Very‐low‐ and low‐isoflavone cultivars (i.e., AC Orford and OAC Champion) sometimes responded positively to chitosan treatments, while the high‐isoflavone cultivar (i.e., AC Proteina) responded only negatively to chitosan. Chitosan treatments had limited effect on isoflavone concentrations, only reducing glycitein in OAC Champion by 38%. No correlation was found between gene expression and isoflavone concentrations. Differences in isoflavone concentrations were observed between sprouts of the three cultivars; AC Proteina had the highest isoflavone concentration and AC Orford the lowest. Results indicate that although isoflavone concentration and gene expression varied with cultivar, chitosan treatment is not a viable option for increasing isoflavone content in sprouts of cultivars evaluated.

Changes in Soybean Global Gene Expression after Application of Lipo-Chitooligosaccharide from Bradyrhizobium japonicum under Sub-Optimal Temperature

“…The housekeeping soybean β-tubulin gene was used as the reference gene for relative quantification [92]. Target gene-specific primers for qPCR were designed using Primer3 on-line software [93], version 0.4.0.…”

Chitosan nanoparticle based delivery systems for sustainable agriculture

“…Hypericum perforatum Produced xanthone-rich extracts with antifungal activity [113] Wheat Potential application as a plant growth regulator [85] defense-related gene expression [143]. Even applied on plants together with biological control agents, chitosan enhanced the efficacy in the control of pathogens [144,145].…”

Betalains and expression of antioxidant enzymes during development andabiotic stress in Rivina humilis L. berries

“…However, application of a lower concentration of chitosan (0.1%, w/v) to soybean sprouts failed to elicit isoflavones content and there was no correlation between isoflavone concentrations and expression levels of enzymes involved in the phenylpropanoid pathway as well as that of isoflavone synthase (Chen et al, 2009). On the other hand, a still lower concentration (0.5 mg/L) of chitosan was effective in eliciting betacyanins in P. americana suspension cultures (Bhuiyan and Adachi, 2003).…”