Factors affecting health-beneficial compounds in soybean

营养保健品和功能性食品的市场正在迅速增长，因为它们在治疗和预防几种重要疾病方面的潜力得到了认可。大豆[Glycine max（L.）梅尔。]含有几种对健康有益的植物化学物质，包括芦荟酮和皂苷，据报道具有抗动脉粥样硬化、抗肿瘤、抗氧化、雌激素和抗菌活性。迄今为止的研究主要集中在大豆黄酮上，然而，大豆皂苷是其他具有健康有益特性的化合物。虽然各种大豆有益健康的化合物对人类健康的影响一直是激烈的研究工作和辩论的主题，但关于它们在植物中的含量和分布如何受到环境因素影响的研究数据仍然有限。拟议的研究计划旨在了解影响大豆中有益健康化合物浓度的环境因素，重点是大豆皂苷和大豆黄酮。具体来说，我将进行田间试验，以确定环境因素影响大豆中大豆皂苷B的浓度最多，也确定最敏感的发展阶段。最终获得的结果将允许模型的建设，这将允许预测大豆皂苷浓度在田间种植的大豆。在受控环境中，我将重点研究温度对大豆皂甙和异黄酮的影响。据报道，温度一直是影响大豆中几种有益健康的化合物（包括大豆酮）积累的最重要的非生物因素之一。将研究对不同温度处理的时空响应，重点是发育种子的两个主要部分（即，子叶和下胚轴），它们在对健康有益的植物化学物质的积累方面存在很大差异。将使用RNASeq、同时靶向的代谢物（即，大豆皂苷、大豆黄酮及其前体）进行定量。转录组分析的结果将与感兴趣的代谢物的定量相关，以确定温度影响大豆中有益健康化合物积累的机制。这项研究计划将增加我们对影响大豆中重要健康有益化合物的因素的了解，这将允许生产高浓度的植物用于营养保健品和功能性食品行业，同时最大限度地减少可销售产品的变化。该计划将有助于开发大豆的新用途，这将导致新的增值市场的发展，并为加拿大农业生产者和相关农业产业创造经济机会。

The market for nutraceuticals and functional foods is rapidly growing, as they are gaining recognition for their potential to treat and protect against several important diseases. Soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] contains several phytochemicals with putative health benefits, including isoflavones and saponins, which are reported to have antiatherosclerotic, antitumorial, antioxidative, estrogenic, and antimicrobial activities. Research to date has focused on isoflavones, however, soyasaponins are other compounds with health-beneficial properties. While the impact of various soybean health-beneficial compounds on human health has been the subject of intense research efforts and debate, research data on how their content and profile in plants can be affected by environmental factors remains limited. The proposed research program aims at providing an understanding of environmental factors affecting the concentrations of health-beneficial compounds in soybean, with a focus on soyasaponins and isoflavones. Specifically, I will conduct field experiments to identify environmental factors affecting soyasaponin B concentrations in soybean the most, and also identity stages of development the most susceptible. Ultimately results obtained will allow the construction of models that will permit the prediction of soyasaponin concentrations in field-grown soybeans. In controlled environments, I will focus my research on the impact of temperature on soyasaponins and isoflavones. Temperature has consistently been reported to be one of the most important abiotic factor affecting the accumulation of several health-beneficial compounds in soybeans, including isoflavones. The spatio-temporal response to different temperature treatments will be studied, with a focus on the response of the two main parts of developing seeds (i.e., the cotyledons and the hypocotyl), which largely differ in their accumulation of health-beneficial phytochemicals. Global gene expression will be studied using RNASeq, concurrently targeted metabolites (i.e., soyasaponins, isoflavones, and their precursors) will be quantified. Results from the transcriptome analysis will be related to the quantification of metabolites of interest to determine the mechanism by which temperature affect the accumulation of health-beneficial compounds in soybeans. This research program will increase our understanding of factors affecting important health-beneficial compounds in soybeans, which should allow the production of plants with high concentrations for the nutraceutical and functional food sectors, while minimizing variations in marketable products. This program will contribute to the development of new uses for soybeans, which should lead to the development of new value-added markets and create economic opportunities for Canadian agricultural producers and associated agri-industries.