Differential impact of acclimation and acute water deprivation in the expression of key transcription factors in soybean roots

Abstract

Soybean (Glycine max) is one of the major world commodities. In order to increase the soybean yields, it has been searched drought-tolerant cultivars, once the drought is the major constraint to soybean grown. Therefore, it is crucial to elucidate the molecular mechanisms associated with drought tolerance. Here, the in silico approach allowed us to identify 12 genes belonging to six different transcription factor families in soybean that have been associated with key events on drought response. The expression pattern of each gene was investigated by qPCR in root samples of drought-sensitive and drought-tolerant cultivars undergoing drought stress in pot-based (PSys) and hydroponic (HSys) cultivation systems. GmaxMYC2-like 2 was induced under abrupt drought conditions in HSys in both cultivars, whereas GmaxAREB1-like 1 and GmaxDREB2A-like were highly induced only in the PSys. However, GmaxMYB2-like 1, GmaxMYB2-like 2, GmaxRD26/NAC-like 1, GmaxRD26/NAC-like 2, GmaxAREB1-like 2, and GmaxDREB1A-like were upregulated in both systems, while the GmaxHB6-like and GmaxHB13-like are repressed under all of the investigated conditions. Exogenous abscisic acid (ABA) treatment was used to identify those genes belonging to the ABA-dependent drought response. The genes identified in this work have potential application for the improvement of drought resistance in soybean and markers for breeding programs.