A study on expression parterns of TCS gene family in response to drought stress in local soybean cultivars

Abstract

Two-component systems (TCSs) play an important role in molecular regulation and signal transduction, enable the plants to adapt to disadvantageous environmental changes. In this study, the analyses of RT-qPCR of 26 selective drought-responsive TCS-related genes in two local cultivars MTD720 and DT51 with contrasting drought-involved phenotypes suggested a positive correlation between the number of drought-inducible TCS genes and the drought-tolerant ability. Furthermore, nine genes potentially associated with drought tolerance were identified. Especially, GmRR34, a potential drought-positive regulator and GmPRR44, a potential drought-negative regulator, displayed higher and lower expression pattern, respectively, in drought-tolerant cultivar DT51 than drought-sensitive cultivar MTD720 under unstressed and stressed condition. These two genes deserve a further study as promising candidates for genetic engineering to improve drought tolerant ability in soybean cultivars. Keywords: Drought stress, Real-time quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR), soybean, two-component systems