Plant cell reportsNov 25, 2025

Improving soybean oil quality by gene editing key fatty acid genes using CRISPR/Cas12a

CRISPR Gene Editing Weekly Brief ↗PubMed ↗DOI ↗

Updated Jun 27, 2026

Abstract

Essence

CRISPR/Cas12a knockouts of GmFAD2 and GmFAD3 generated soybean germplasms with altered oleic or linoleic acid profiles.

Evidence

This plant gene-editing experiment selectively knocked out GmFAD2-1A, GmFAD2-1B, GmFAD3A, and GmFAD3B in soybean and measured resulting fatty acid composition.

Caveat

The abstract reports engineered germplasms and compositional changes, not agronomic performance, oxidative stability, or human health outcomes.

Simplified

Using CRISPR/Cas12a, we engineered novel soybean germplasms by knocking out GmFAD2 (GmFAD2-1A, GmFAD2-1B) and GmFAD3 (GmFAD3A, GmFAD3B) genes, yielding elevated oleic or linoleic acid content. Soybean oil contains high levels of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), which are known to reduce cholesterol levels and help prevent hypertension, thereby contributing significantly to human health. However, the chemical instability of PUFAs makes them susceptible to oxidation, a process that generates harmful trans-fatty acids. To address this issue, precise modulation of fatty acid composition in soybeans becomes critically important for health applications. In this study, we employed CRISPR/Cas12a gene editing technology to selectively knock out the GmFAD2 (GmFAD2-1A, GmFAD2-1B) and GmFAD3 (GmFAD3A, GmFAD3B) genes in soybean. This approach successfully created novel soybean germplasms with distinct fatty acid profiles: one with elevated oleic acid content and another with increased linoleic acid levels. These engineered variants provide valuable options for utilizing soybean oil with optimized fatty acid compositions tailored for specific health and nutritional purposes.