Monica Schmidt

Monica Schmidt received her doctorate in genetics at the University of British Columbia where she worked on transgenic trees focusing on the then emerging area of phytoremediation. She then did a post-doctorate work at the University of Georgia where she made a transition of working on trees to working with legumes. Research during this time was largely focused on novel tools, both tissue culture/transformation and molecular, that would make soybean more amenable as a research platform. Continuing to work on soybeans, she then held a USDA post-doctorate position where her research efforts used various transgenics and molecular tools to applications, such as mitigating allergies. She is presently a Senior Research Scientist at the Danforth Center where her research interests focus on producing proteins, both industrial and health-related, and nutraceuticals carotenoids in soybean seeds.

RESEARCH | PUBLICATIONS | RESEARCH TEAM

Research

Biofortification -- Carotenoids

Carotenoids have drawn much attention recently due in part because of their potential health benefits and to the successful production of golden rice nearly a decade ago. In the human diet, carotenoids have been shown to have antioxidant activity which may help to prevent certain kinds of cancers, arthritis and atherosclerosis. ß-carotene, specifically, a precursor of vitamin A (retinol), has been associated with the alleviation of deficiencies leading to night blindness and other nutritional insufficiencies. There are nearly 600 carotenoids in nature, with biochemical pathways interrelated and very complex. Developing green soybean seeds produce some carotenoids, presumably to play a role as a phytoprotective. This indicates that the initial steps in the carotenoid pathway are present and functional in soybean seeds. With the use of biotechnology in collaboration with researchers at the University of Georgia, we are involved in the production of carotenoids necessary in the agri- and aqua-culture industries. To date we have been successful at the production of a carotenoid that is ultimately the precursor for all others, namely ß-carotene, in soybean seeds. Adjacent is a photo of a mature soybean cotyledon accumulating ß-carotene (orange on the left) in comparison to a non-transgenic soybean cotyledon (green on the right). Quantitiative analysis of these transgenic soybeans shows that we have been able to enhance the ß-carotene levels 1,400-fold over non transgenic levels in soybean seeds. For perspective, the level of á-carotene obtained in our soybean seeds is 15 fold greater than the levels obtained in the best golden rice and twice the level measured in baby carrots. Current work focuses on more nutraceutical carotenoids in soybean and peanut seeds.


          ß-Carotene Soybean Seeds shown without coat



Biofortification -- Proteins

In partnership with Eliot Herman, we have engineered soybean seeds to be a ‘protein factory’ for pharmaceutical or industrial proteins. In essence, we engineered a seed that is essentially missing the storage protein inventory – both ß-conglycinin and glycinin, together accounting for nearly 80% of the seed proteome – a successfully replaced a significant portion of the proteome with a desired foreign protein. To date, we have shown to be able to accumulate a foreign protein to ~7% of the soybean seed proteome. Considering the high protein content of soybean seeds (40% w/w) this translates into at least 3-4 mg foreign protein/gram soybean seed (see below photo). This amount of protein production is unprecedented in the plant scientific community and is within commercially viable levels for a number of proteins.

White Light	Blue Light
		Non-Transgenic 2-3% GFP-Expressing Seed ~7% GFP-Expressing Seed