Evaluation of the Unintended Effects of Herbicide-Resistant Soybean Seeds via TMT Quantitative Proteomics and Flavonoid-Targeted Metabolomics
Abstract
1. Introduction
2. Results
2.1. Protein Profile of Soybean Seeds
2.2. DEP Detection in Soybean Seeds
2.3. KEGG Pathway Enrichment Analysis of the Identified DEPs
2.4. Identification of Co-DEPs in Soybean Seeds
2.5. Exogenous Protein Detection by ELISA and Proteomic Analysis of Seeds of GM Soybean Varieties
2.6. Flavonoid Detection in Soybean Seeds by Targeted Metabolomics Analysis
3. Discussion
4. Materials and Methods
4.1. Plant Materials
4.2. Protein Preparation, Trypsin Digestion and TMT Labelling
4.3. LC–MS/MS Analysis
4.4. Metabolite Preparation
4.5. Targeted Metabonomics Analysis
4.6. Data Analysis
4.7. ELISA (Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay) of the Foreign Proteins
5. Conclusions
Supplementary Materials
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
Abbreviations
| TMT | Tandem mass tag |
| FC | Fold change |
| DEPs | Differentially expressed proteins |
| co-DEPs | Commonly differentially expressed proteins |
| KEGG | Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes |
| MS | Mass spectrometry |
| ELISA | Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay |
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| Comparison Groups | No. of Upregulated Proteins | No. of Downregulated Proteins | No. of DEPs |
|---|---|---|---|
| ZLD6010/ZH13 | 29 | 36 | 65 |
| FD3003/ZH13 | 15 | 14 | 29 |
| JY2812/ZH13 | 21 | 35 | 56 |
| ZLD8001/ZH13 | 18 | 20 | 38 |
| ZLD2426/ZH13 | 8 | 18 | 26 |
| ZLD2426/JD12 | 9 | 15 | 24 |
| ZLD2426/KS1 | 6 | 10 | 16 |
| JD12/ZH13 | 13 | 14 | 27 |
| ZH13/KS1 | 12 | 8 | 20 |
| JD12/KS1 | 15 | 10 | 25 |
| Accession | Name | Regulatory State | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ZLD6010/ZH13 JY2812/ZH13 | FD3003/ZH13 | ZLD8001/ZH13 ZLD2426/ZH13 | ||
| I1MAE7 | Acyl-[acyl-carrier-protein] desaturase | Down | Down | Down |
| C6SYE0 | 40S ribosomal protein S21 | Down | Down | Down |
| A0A0R4J4R5 | Uncharacterized protein | Up | Up | Up |
| A0A0R0JI98 | Translation elongation factor EF1B beta/delta subunit guanine nucleotide exchange domain-containing | Down | Up | Down |
| Accession | Name | Regulation State | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ZLD2426/ZH13 | ZLD2426/JD12 | ZLD2426/KS1 | ||
| A0A0R4J2M7 | 40S ribosomal protein S4 | Down | Down | Down |
| I1KQ93 | phosphoglucomutase | Down | Down | Down |
| P24337 | Hydrophobic seed protein | Down | Down | Down |
| Comparison Group | Foreign Proteins | Fold Change | p-Value | Foreign Protein Content in GM Seeds (ng/g) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ZLD6010/ZH13 | G2 EPSPS | - | - | 79.25 |
| GAT | - | - | 14.78 | |
| ZLD8001/ZH13 | G2 EPSPS | - | - | 150.84 |
| GAT | - | - | 34.71 | |
| ZLD2426/ZH13 | G2 EPSPS | - | - | 93.66 |
| GAT | - | - | 71.43 | |
| FD3003/ZH13 | CP4 EPSPS | 18.47 | 0.000048 | 186.05 (μg/g) |
| PAT | - | - | 4.36 (μg/g) | |
| JY2812/ZH13 | G10 EPSPS | 15.05 | 0.000018 | 19.80 (μg/g) |
| Soybean Varieties | Flavonoids Content (μg/g) | Significant Difference (Compared to) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| JD12 | ZH13 | KS1 | ||
| ZLD6010 | 665.93 ± 102.24 | ** | ** | *** |
| FD3003 | 542.12 ± 99.55 | * | * | ** |
| JY2812 | 538.77 ± 64.27 | ** | ** | *** |
| ZLD8001 | 601.57 ± 70.95 | ** | ** | *** |
| ZLD2426 | 327.02 ± 42.13 | - | - | - |
| JD12 | 363.90 ± 58.32 | |||
| ZH13 | 381.08 ± 53.44 | |||
| KS1 | 305.07 ± 51.46 | |||
| Soybean Varieties | Foreign Proteins | |
|---|---|---|
| Natural genotypic varieties | JD12 | no |
| ZH13 | ||
| KS1 | ||
| Herbicide-tolerant varieties | ZLD6010 | G2 EPSPS GAT |
| ZLD8001 | ||
| ZLD2426 | ||
| FD3003 | CP4 EPSPS PAT | |
| JY2812 | G10 EPSPS |
| Comparison Type | Comparison Groups |
|---|---|
| Genetically modified compared with the natural genotype | ZLD6010/ZH13 |
| FD3003/ZH13 | |
| JY2812/ZH13 | |
| ZLD8001/ZH13 | |
| ZLD2426/ZH13 | |
| ZLD2426/JD12 | |
| ZLD2426/KS1 | |
| Pairwise comparisons among natural genotypes | JD12/ZH13 |
| ZH13/KS1 | |
| JD12/KS1 |
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Wang, Z.; Wang, R.; Dong, M.; Hu, G.; Miao, C.; Wan, Y.; Liu, W.; Jin, W. Evaluation of the Unintended Effects of Herbicide-Resistant Soybean Seeds via TMT Quantitative Proteomics and Flavonoid-Targeted Metabolomics. Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2026, 27, 734. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms27020734
Wang Z, Wang R, Dong M, Hu G, Miao C, Wan Y, Liu W, Jin W. Evaluation of the Unintended Effects of Herbicide-Resistant Soybean Seeds via TMT Quantitative Proteomics and Flavonoid-Targeted Metabolomics. International Journal of Molecular Sciences. 2026; 27(2):734. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms27020734
Chicago/Turabian StyleWang, Zhanchao, Ruizhe Wang, Mei Dong, Guihua Hu, Chaohua Miao, Yusong Wan, Weixiao Liu, and Wujun Jin. 2026. "Evaluation of the Unintended Effects of Herbicide-Resistant Soybean Seeds via TMT Quantitative Proteomics and Flavonoid-Targeted Metabolomics" International Journal of Molecular Sciences 27, no. 2: 734. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms27020734
APA StyleWang, Z., Wang, R., Dong, M., Hu, G., Miao, C., Wan, Y., Liu, W., & Jin, W. (2026). Evaluation of the Unintended Effects of Herbicide-Resistant Soybean Seeds via TMT Quantitative Proteomics and Flavonoid-Targeted Metabolomics. International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 27(2), 734. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms27020734
