Improvement of Soybean Crop for Yield, Stress Tolerance, and Value-Added Products Using a Transgenic Approach

Soybean (Glycine max) is an economically important crop, ranking first among the edible oilseed crops in the world due to its oil content and nutritional value. Besides, it is used as a dietary supplement and a source of pharmaceuticals. The recent rapid climate changes and increasing global population have led to increasing demand for vegetable oil. In the recent past, advances in the field of plant biotechnology have revolutionized agricultural practices at a global level to enhance the yield of crops. This technology not only makes an impact on the agricultural market but also opens up new corridors for agriculture-related industrial applications of this important crop. Therefore, in the last two decades, soybean has gained attention for genetic improvement with remarkable developments in the manipulations of genes for the induction of desired characteristics. In this review, we introduced the transgenic approach as a promising tool for the improvement of soybean oilseed quality and productivity. Then, the enhancement of nutritional and pharmaceutical value together with biotic and abiotic stress-resistant ability was summarized and compared. The methods and strategies for achieving soybean crops with improved abiotic stress tolerance, productivity, and pharmaceutics are categorized to help with future research

Mild and Highly α‐Selective O‐Sialylation Method Based on Pre‐Activation: Access to Gangliosides Hp‐s1, DSG‐A, and Their Analogues

An efficient method for α‐selective sialylation, based on a pre‐activated 5‐N,4‐O‐carbamate thiosialoside donor using p‐TolSCl/AgOTf as reagents, is described. The strategy is further expanded to a range of sugars. A mechanism is proposed and validated using experimental evidence. The utility of the method is demonstrated by the total synthesis of gangliosides Hp‐s1 1, DSG‐A 2 and their analogues, 2 a–2 c. The neuritogenic activity of the final compounds is determined on SH‐SY5Y cells

Synthesis and Bioassay of Neurogenically Potent Gangliosides DSG-A, Hp-s1 and Their Analogues

In the search of a potent candidate for neurotherapy, we designed and synthesized various analogues of ganglioside Hp-s1. The modification includes the change in hydrophobicity by varying the carbon chain length, altering the number of hydrogen bonds, and replacing the anomeric atom. The chemical synthesis was carried out by using various methods and discussed in details. The neuritogenic activities of these analogues are confirmed in a human neuroblastoma cell line SH-SY5Y. A higher activity of ganglioside Hp-s1 analogue on IL-17A transcript upregulation than ganglioside Hp-s1 was found

Design, Synthesis, and Biological Evaluation of Ganglioside Hp-s1 Analogues Varying at Glucosyl Moiety

Ganglioside Hp-s1 is isolated from the ovary of sea urchin Diadema setosum. It exhibited better neuritogenic activity than GM1 in pheochromocytoma 12 cells. To explore the roles of glucosyl moiety of Hp-s1 in contributing to the neurogenic activity, we developed feasible procedures for synthesis of Hp-s1 analogues (2a-2f). The glucosyl moiety of Hp-s1 was replaced with α-glucose, α-galactose, β-galactose, α-mannose, and β-mannose, and their biological activities on SH-SY5Y cells and natural killer T (NKT) cells were evaluated. We found that the orientation of C-2 hydroxyl group at glucosyl moiety of Hp-s1 plays an important role to induce neurite outgrowth of SH-SY5Y cells. Surprisingly, compound 2d could activate NKT cells to produce interleukin 2, although it did not show great activity on neurite outgrowth of SH-SY5Y cells. In general, the Hp-s1 might be considered as a lead compound for the development of novel drugs aimed at modulating the activity of neuronal cells