Drought tolerance of elite soybean cultivars with the introgression of transgene AtAREB1

Abstract

The objective of this work was to verify if the introgression of the AtAREB1 gene in the 'LS93-0375' and 'BMX Desafio RR' elite soybean germplasms increases the tolerance of these plants to water deficit. The F4 progenies of these two elite cultivars and of the AtAREB1 transgenic line (BR16-AtAREB1) and its background ('BR16') were subjected to water deficit assays. The water deficit bioassays were performed in a greenhouse using the following six soybean lines: the genetically modified BR16-AtAREB1 and its background 'BR16'; 'LS93' and its F4 progeny, LS93-AtAREB1; and 'BMX Desafio RR' and its F4 progeny, Desafio-AtAREB1. A randomized complete block experimental design was carried out in a 6x2 factorial arrangement, with the six soybean genotypes and two water conditions – control (C) and water deficit (WD) treatments – with nine replicates. Soybean genotypes containing the AtAREB1 gene showed better physiological performances under drought stress and altered expressions of drought-responsive genes. The intogression of AtAREB1 in soybean increases the plant drought tolerance, regardless of the genetic background in which the gene was introduced.

Selection of Soybean Genotypes under Drought and Saline Stress Conditions Using Manhattan Distance and TOPSIS

“…Many factors affect plant responses to drought or salt stress, such as plant genetics, timing, the intensity and duration of applied stress, and environmental factors that determine the genotype versus environment interaction [ 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 ]. Genetic differences in tolerance to abiotic stresses in soybean genotypes have been reported in other studies [ 4 , 15 , 16 , 17 ], which may be useful in identifying genotypes more adapted to sowing under abiotic stress conditions. In the research by Zuffo et al [ 4 ], the authors proposed a multitrait tool to select the best soybean genotypes exposed to drought and saline stresses.…”

“…In this case, it is important to note that, although the distance was shown only for two variables, the distance metric is generalizable for vector spaces of any dimension [ 19 , 25 ]. The difficulty of selecting genotypes through adaptability studies under abiotic stress conditions such as drought, salinity, and aluminum toxicity has been shown in soybean [ 3 , 4 , 5 , 14 , 16 ], sorghum [ 6 ], wheat [ 7 ], and corn [ 11 ]. Several methods are available to evaluate groups of genotypes in different environments.…”

“…Some genotypes are more similar to the control samples in the saline stress environment, while others are more similar to the control samples in the drought environment. This is because genotypes respond differently to abiotic stress [ 3 , 4 , 5 , 14 , 16 ]. The genotypes “97R73 RR” and “AS 3575 IPRO” are the most similar in saline and drought stress environments, respectively.…”