Polymorphic Variation of Seed Saponin Composition in Korean Wild Soybean (Glycine soja Sieb. & Zucc.).

Many triterpenoid glycosides are identified and characterized from the seeds of the genus Glycine. Since a great deal of attention paid on soyasaponins due to their pharmacological values and taste properties, identifying a new saponin component has significant impacts. We have analyzed 3,025 wild soybean accessions collected from different regions of South Korea (SK) to find out mutants for saponin components and determine the polymorphic variation and their geographical distribution. LC-PDA/MS/MS analysis of 80% methanol extracts of seed hypocotyls indicated that, the accession CW10115 didn¨t produce saponin Aa and Ax but accumulated saponin Au, Ae, Ay and Ag. Accession CW12133 didn¨t produce saponin Aa nor Ab but accumulated saponin A0-メg and CW15095 didn¨t produce all group A saponins. Seven saponin phenotypes were found in SK, namely Aa, Ab, AaBc, AbBc, Aa+メ, AaBc+メ and AbBc+メ. The predominant phenotypes were AaBc (55%), Aa (32.8%), AaBc+メ (7.5%) and Aa+メ. (3.3%). The frequency of Ab, AbBc and AbBc+メ was very low (0.3% - 0.5%). Codominant allele Sg-1a on Sg-1 locus occupied 98.6% whereas codominant allele Sg-1b at the same locus was only in 1.1%. Dominant alleles Sg-4 on Sg-4 locus and Sg-6 on Sg-6 locus, which controls the presence of saponin モa in seed hypocotyls and production of alpha (メ) saponin components, existed 63.3 and 11.1% respectively.