Acta Agriculturae Zhejiangensis ›› 2026, Vol. 38 ›› Issue (1): 1-16.DOI: 10.3969/j.issn.1004-1524.20250086

• Crop Science • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Identification of common genes for salt and cadmium tolerance in soybean

XU Yan1,2(), LI Sujuan3, CHEN Guang2, XU Shengchun1,2,4, WANG Jian2,*()   

  1. 1. College of Advanced Agricultural Science, Zhejiang A&F University, Hangzhou 311300, China
    2. Institute of Digital Agriculture, Zhejiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Hangzhou 310021, China
    3. State Key Laboratory for Quality and Safety of Agro-Products, Zhejiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Hangzhou 310021, China
    4. Xianghu Laboratory, Hangzhou 311258, China
  • Received:2025-02-07 Online:2026-01-25 Published:2026-02-11

Abstract:

Saline-alkali land is occasionally accompanied by heavy metal pollution. Studying plant growth and physiological responses to combined salt and cadmium stress and identifying their common tolerance genes and regulatory pathways are of great significance for the genetic improvement of crop stress resistance. In this study, 50 soybean cultivars and wild soybean accessions were used as materials. They were cultivated under salt stress (200 mmol·L-1 NaCl), cadmium stress (0.3 mmol·L-1 CdCl2), and normal conditions, respectively. Six indexes, including germination rate, plant height, root length, root-shoot ratio, and fresh weights of the aboveground and underground parts, were measured. Key tolerance indicators were screened through principal component analysis. The wild soybean accession W-3-12-90, which exhibited the strongest tolerance, was used to construct a full-length cDNA yeast expression library. Combined with the Full-length cDNA Over-expressor (FOX) gene hunting system and second-generation sequencing, genes related to co-tolerance to salt and cadmium were identified. Principal component analysis revealed that plant height, root length, aboveground fresh weight, and germination rate were the four key indexes for evaluating soybean tolerance to salt and cadmium. The wild soybean accession W-3-12-90 demonstrated the strongest tolerance under salt and cadmium stress. Using this material, a total of 109 common responsive genes to salt and cadmium were identified. Subcellular localization prediction showed that 39 of these genes encoded extracellular proteins, which respond rapidly and account for a high proportion. Proteins encoded by another 51 genes were distributed in the nucleus, cytoplasm, and cell membrane, and were primarily involved in pathways related to protein metabolism, cellular signal transduction, defense and stress responses, and oxidoreductase activity. Gene expression analysis indicated that six candidate co-tolerance genes were significantly upregulated under both salt and cadmium stress. In summary, genes responding to salt and cadmium stress in plants primarily function by encoding extracellular proteins and coordinately regulate plant tolerance through interactions of these proteins with the plasma membrane, nucleus, and cytoplasm. This study provides new insights for elucidating the molecular mechanism of soybean tolerance to salt and cadmium, and provides gene resources and theoretical basis for breeding new salt- and cadmium-tolerant germplasms.

Key words: soybean, salt stress, cadmium stress, germplasm screening, gene mining

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