Table 5.
Selected list of grain legumes with improved seed protein content using a genetic engineering approach.
| Crop | Gene Source | Gene Name | Function | References | Transformation Approach |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chickpea | Sunflower | Sunflower seed albumin | Increased methionine up to 90% | [223] | Agrobacterium tumefaciens |
| Common bean | Brazilnut | Brazilnut 2S albumin | Increased methionine by 14–23% | [220] | Particle bombardment |
| Narrow-leafed lupin | Sunflower | Sunflower seed albumin | Increased methionine by 90% | [224,225] | Agrobacterium tumefaciens |
| Arabidopsis | Serine acetyltransferase | 26-fold increase in free cysteine | [229] | Agrobacterium tumefaciens | |
| Soybean | Maize | 15 kDa δ-zein | Increased methionine by 20% and cysteine by 35% | [226] | Agrobacterium tumefaciens |
| Maize | 27 kDa γ-zein | Increased methionine from 15.49 to 18.57% and cysteine from 26.97 to 29.33% | [227] | Particle bombardment | |
| Maize | 11 kDa δ-zein | Methionine | [221] | Agrobacterium tumefaciens | |
| MB-16 | Increased methionine by 16% and cysteine by 66% | [230] | Biolistic | ||
| Soybean | Soybean plastid ATP sulfurylase isoform 1 | Increase cysteine by 37–52% and methionine by 15–19% | [228] | Agrobacterium tumefaciens | |
| Maize | 11 kDa δ-zein | Increased sulfur amino acids | [222] | Agrobacterium tumefaciens | |
| Soybean | Glyma.20g085100 | Enhance protein content | [137] | RNAi technology |