Microchemical structure of soybean seeds revealed in situ by ultraspatially resolved synchrotron Fourier transformed infrared microspectroscopy.

The distribution of water in soybean seeds during imbibition varies with the chemical composition of the tissue. To understand the dynamics of imbibition, the proteins, lipids, and carbohydrates of the cotyledons and hilum region in mature soybean seeds were mapped using synchrotron Fourier transformed infrared microspectroscopy, based on characteristic peaks for each component: amide I at 1650 cm(-1) and amide II at 1550 cm(-1) for protein, lipid ester stretch at 1545 cm(-1), and the region from 1200 to 900 cm(-1) for carbohydrates. The amount and configuration of the proteins varied across the cotyledon, as well as the amount of lipid and carbohydrate. It was found that protein distribution across the cotyledon is similar to water distribution during imbibition. The chemistry of the hilum region was also studied, as this is the point of water entry, and differences in the chemical composition of the tissues studied were observed.