Salzwedel Researches Glyceollin Production in Soy Crops posted 9/3/09
Adrian College professor takes sabbatical to perform research

ADRIAN, Mich. - Adrian College professor of biology Janet L. Salzwedel, PhD, will take her sabbatical research leave this fall to join a project at the Center for Drug Design and Development (CD3) at the University of Toledo’s College of Pharmacy.

Dr. Salzwedel’s expertise as a plant biologist is being tapped to investigate and prompt conditions that will elevate natural production of glyceollin.

Soy plants under stress from fungi or nematodes produce a metabolite called glyceollin in very small amounts. Collaborators working elsewhere have demonstrated that glyceollin inhibits breast cancer cells in vitro, as well as tumor growth in mice.

“I’ll be looking for ways to optimize the growth stage and cultivar of soybeans grown in nematode-infested fields,” said Salzwedel. “Challenging the soy plant with a particular type of cyst root nematode drives up the yield of glyceollin as the plant defends itself from the parasite.”

Concurrently, Dr. Salzwedel will study a naturally occurring enzyme that could be used in lab synthesis of the glyceollin molecule.

Researchers hope the project will lead to development of a nutriceutical (food based) breast cancer preventative. The U.S. Department of Agriculture Research Service and The Ohio Soybean Council are funding developmental work in this area, pending applications for further funding from the National Cancer Institute.