Development of a Gene-Based Soybean-Origin Discrimination Method Using Allele-Specific Polymerase Chain Reaction

Area of Science:

• Agricultural Science
• Genetics
• Food Science

Background:

• South Korea faces low soybean self-sufficiency, leading to high import reliance and price discrepancies.
• Mislabeling of foreign soybeans as domestic is a significant issue due to these economic factors.
• Existing origin discrimination methods are inadequate for single-grain analysis and struggle with mixed samples.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a novel method for discriminating soybean origin using genetic analysis.
• To enable accurate identification of individual soybean grains, overcoming limitations of conventional techniques.
• To address the problem of false labeling in the soybean market.

Main Methods:

• Whole-genome sequencing data from a reference cultivar and 15 South Korean soybean varieties were analyzed.
• Dense variation blocks (dVBs) with high single-nucleotide polymorphism density were identified.
• PCR primers targeting insertion-deletion (InDel) sequences within dVBs were designed and validated for variety discrimination.

Main Results:

• The developed genetic analysis method successfully discriminated between domestic and foreign soybean varieties.
• The technique effectively identified the origin of individual soybean grains.
• False labeling of soybeans was eliminated by the accurate origin discrimination.

Conclusions:

• Genetic analysis using dVB-derived InDel markers provides an effective solution for soybean origin discrimination.
• This method overcomes the limitations of traditional techniques, enabling single-grain analysis.
• The developed approach can significantly improve market transparency and prevent fraudulent labeling in the soybean industry.