Legume Genomics and Genetics 2025, Vol.16, No.1, 11-22 http://cropscipublisher.com/index.php/lgg 16 5.3 Discovery of drought-related metabolic pathways When it comes to drought resistance of soybeans, GWAS studies have indeed unearthed a lot of valuable insights. Take the GmNFYB17 gene for example (Sun et al., 2022). It not only enables the root system to grow stronger, but also controls a host of physiological indicators for drought resistance-such as the degree of leaf damage, MDA content, etc. (Figure 3). Interestingly, it can also regulate SOD activity and proline content. When these changes are combined, the drought resistance of the plants increases. However, for a more comprehensive discovery, the study using SLAF sequencing in 2020 has to be mentioned (Ren et al., 2020). The QTL they identified clarified the genetic basis of drought resistance metabolic pathways. Although the specific operation still needs to be further explored, these findings do provide new ideas for cultivating drought-resistant soybeans, such as designing breeding strategies based on these metabolic pathways. Figure 3 Performance of GmNFYB17 transgenic soybean under drought stress (Adapted from Sun et al., 2022) Image caption: A: Morphological differences between transgenic soybeans (G16, G18, G26) and non-transgenic control (CK) after 15 days of drought stress followed by 7 days of re-watering; B; C: Relative water content (RWC) of leaves and degree of leaf damage at different treatment stages; D~F: Comparison of physiological and biochemical indicators under drought conditions between transgenic and non-transgenic soybeans, including malondialdehyde (MDA) concentration, superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity, and proline content (Adapted from Sun et al., 2022) The study on the GmNFYB17 gene in 2022 was quite interesting (Sun et al., 2022). They conducted a drought experiment by putting genetically modified soybeans and ordinary soybeans together and found that the genetically modified ones were indeed more resistant to drought-the water content in the leaves was maintained better and the damage was much less. More importantly, a bunch of physiological indicators were tested: the activity of SOD increased and the content of MDA decreased, indicating that the cell membrane is more stable. The proline content has also increased. This thing can help regulate osmotic pressure. Although further research is needed on exactly how it works, at least it has been proven that this gene does work. Nowadays, colleagues engaged in drought-resistant breeding have a new option. However, if it is to be applied to variety selection, it still needs to go through the test of field trials.
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