Abstract
Although soybean seeds appear homogeneous, their composition (protein, oil and mineral concentrations) can vary significantly with the canopy position where they were produced. In studies with 10 cultivars grown over a 3-yr period, we found that seeds produced at the top of the canopy have higher concentrations of protein but less oil and lower concentrations of minerals such as Mg, Fe, and Cu compared to seeds produced at the bottom of the canopy. Among cultivars, mean protein concentration (average of different positions) correlated positively with mean concentrations of S, Zn and Fe, but not other minerals. Therefore, on a whole plant basis, the uptake and allocation of S, Zn and Fe to seeds correlated with the production and allocation of reduced N to seed protein; however, the reduced N and correlated minerals (S, Zn and Fe) showed different patterns of allocation among node positions. For example, while mean concentrations of protein and Fe correlated positively, the two parameters correlated negatively in terms of variation with canopy position. Altering the microenvironment within the soybean canopy by removing neighboring plants at flowering increased protein concentration in particular at lower node positions and thus altered the node-position gradient in protein (and oil) without altering the distribution of Mg, Fe and Cu, suggesting different underlying control mechanisms. Metabolomic analysis of developing seeds at different positions in the canopy suggests that availability of free asparagine may be a positive determinant of storage protein accumulation in seeds and may explain the increased protein accumulation in seeds produced at the top of the canopy. Our results establish node-position variation in seed constituents and provide a new experimental system to identify genes controlling key aspects of seed composition. In addition, our results provide an unexpected and simple approach to link agronomic practices to improve human nutrition and health in developing countries because food products produced from seeds at the bottom of the canopy contained higher Fe concentrations than products from the top of the canopy. Therefore, using seeds produced in the lower canopy for production of iron-rich soy foods for human consumption could be important when plants are the major source of protein and human diets can be chronically deficient in Fe and other minerals.
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Claims 12
Claim · model-written summary
Top canopy seeds have higher protein concentration than bottom canopy seeds.
- Taxon
- soybean
Glycine maxt0 - Organ / stage
- seedse0
- Outcome
- concentrations of proteine0
- Direction
- highere0
- Comparator
- seeds produced at the bottom of the canopye0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“seeds produced at the top of the canopy have higher concentrations of protein but less oil and lower concentrations of minerals such as Mg, Fe, and Cu compared to seeds produced at the bottom of the canopy”
t0“soybean”
Claim · model-written summary
Top canopy seeds have less oil than bottom canopy seeds.
- Taxon
- soybeanGlycine maxt0
- Organ / stage
- seedse0
- Outcome
- oile0
- Direction
- lesse0
- Comparator
- seeds produced at the bottom of the canopye0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“seeds produced at the top of the canopy have higher concentrations of protein but less oil and lower concentrations of minerals such as Mg, Fe, and Cu compared to seeds produced at the bottom of the canopy”
t0“soybean”
Claim · model-written summary
Top canopy seeds have lower Mg, Fe and Cu concentrations than bottom canopy seeds.
- Taxon
- soybeanGlycine maxt0
- Organ / stage
- seedse0
- Outcome
- concentrations of minerals such as Mg, Fe, and Cue0
- Direction
- lowere0
- Comparator
- seeds produced at the bottom of the canopye0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“seeds produced at the top of the canopy have higher concentrations of protein but less oil and lower concentrations of minerals such as Mg, Fe, and Cu compared to seeds produced at the bottom of the canopy”
t0“soybean”
Claim · model-written summary
Mean protein concentration correlated positively with S, Zn and Fe concentrations across cultivars.
- Taxon
- soybeanGlycine maxt0
- Compound
- S, Zn and Fee0
- Outcome
- mean protein concentratione0
- Direction
- positivelye0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Among cultivars, mean protein concentration (average of different positions) correlated positively with mean concentrations of S, Zn and Fe, but not other minerals.”
t0“soybean”
Claim · model-written summary
Mean protein concentration did not correlate with other minerals.
- Taxon
- soybeanGlycine maxt0
- Compound
- other mineralse0
- Outcome
- mean protein concentratione0
Not reportedDirection
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Among cultivars, mean protein concentration (average of different positions) correlated positively with mean concentrations of S, Zn and Fe, but not other minerals.”
t0“soybean”
Claim · model-written summary
Protein and Fe concentrations correlate negatively across canopy positions.
- Taxon
- soybeanGlycine maxt0
- Organ / stage
- canopy positione0
- Outcome
- protein and Fee0
- Direction
- negativelye0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“while mean concentrations of protein and Fe correlated positively, the two parameters correlated negatively in terms of variation with canopy position.”
t0“soybean”
Claim · model-written summary
Removing neighboring plants at flowering increased seed protein concentration, particularly at lower nodes.
- Taxon
- soybeanGlycine maxt0
- Organ / stage
- lower node positionse0
- Treatment
- removing neighboring plants at floweringe0
- Outcome
- protein concentratione0
- Direction
- increasede0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“removing neighboring plants at flowering increased protein concentration in particular at lower node positions”
t0“soybean”
Claim · model-written summary
Removing neighbors changed the node position gradient in protein and oil.
- Taxon
- soybeanGlycine maxt0
- Treatment
- removing neighboring plants at floweringe1
- Outcome
- node-position gradient in protein (and oil)e0
- Direction
- alterede0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“thus altered the node-position gradient in protein (and oil) without altering the distribution of Mg, Fe and Cu”
t0“soybean”
e1“removing neighboring plants at flowering increased protein concentration”
Claim · model-written summary
Removing neighbors did not alter Mg, Fe and Cu distribution.
- Taxon
- soybeanGlycine maxt0
- Treatment
- removing neighboring plants at floweringe1
- Outcome
- distribution of Mg, Fe and Cue0
- Direction
- without alteringe0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“without altering the distribution of Mg, Fe and Cu”
t0“soybean”
e1“removing neighboring plants at flowering increased protein concentration”
Claim · model-written summary
Developing seed metabolomics suggests free asparagine availability could promote storage protein accumulation.
- Taxon
- soybeanGlycine maxt0
- Compound
- free asparaginee0
- Outcome
- storage protein accumulation in seedse0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“availability of free asparagine may be a positive determinant of storage protein accumulation in seeds”
t0“soybean”
Claim · model-written summary
Foods from bottom canopy seeds contained higher Fe than foods from top canopy seeds.
- Taxon
- soybeanGlycine maxt0
- Outcome
- Fe concentrationse0
- Direction
- highere0
- Comparator
- products from the top of the canopye0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“food products produced from seeds at the bottom of the canopy contained higher Fe concentrations than products from the top of the canopy”
t0“soybean”
Claim · model-written summary
The authors recommend lower canopy seeds for iron rich soy foods.
- Taxon
- soybeanGlycine maxt0
- Outcome
- using seeds produced in the lower canopy for production of iron-rich soy foodse0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“using seeds produced in the lower canopy for production of iron-rich soy foods for human consumption could be important”
t0“soybean”
The same questions in other papers
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See all 10 papers →Claims are grouped by organism, treatment and what was measured or targeted. A paper counts as positive when any of its claims in the group is positive.