Iowa State University plant researchers have discovered a way to map how a soybean processes sugar. Agronomy professor Mark Westgate says that process is the key to the value of the soybean, as it will tell them how the soybean makes its two main components, protein and oil. He says they want to be able to control the process in the soybean.Westgate says this research could create a whole new type of soybean.They don’t know yet what a bean can make, and they want to be able to make the soybean create other products. Now that they have started mapping the process, they can isolate the genes that’re involved.Once they determine which genes do what, they can design the soybean they want. Westgate is working with two other researchers on the project.
