yields related traits and root system architecture traits by breeding and molecular
approaches will be very useful for enhancing drought stress tolerance in soybean,
leading to cultivar development. Elucidation of function of genes and their
integration in soybean genotypes by molecular breeding and genomic approaches
and utilizing robust phenotyping tools to evaluate drought adaptive traits will be
crucial for understanding response of soybean plants to drought stress. Recent
advances in genomics lead identification, functional characterization, and introgression of genes associated with adaptation of soybean plants to drought stress.
In order to perform genetic and genomic analysis, molecular markers have been
employed on RIL or F 2 populations. In addition, the genome typified with single
nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and its utilization in molecular breeding
applications like QTL mapping, positional cloning, association mapping studies,
genomic selection and genome editing is gaining impetus. Thus, the rapid
development of soybean genomics and transcriptomics has provided tremendous
opportunity for the genetic improvement of soybean for drought tolerance with
yield stability.
Keywords
Drought tolerance · Abiotic stress · Quantitative trait loci · Breeding · Genetic
engineering · Signal transduction · Transcriptomic approaches
4.1
Introduction
Soybean is one of the most important crops in the world and provides oil and protein
for both humans and livestock. Global food security is a major challenging task for
world agricultural community since the world population is growing exponentially
and crop cultivable land is decreasing due to adverse climatic conditions (Foley et al.
2011). The USA, Brazil, Argentina, China, and India account for about 93% of
global soybean production. It is one of the most economical sources of good quality
protein (40%), edible oil (20%), essential amino acids, dietary minerals, vitamins,
and nutraceuticals like isoflavones, tocopherols, etc. of immense health benefits.
Such diverse uses of soybean make it a wildly desired crop, and demand for soybean
is rapidly increasing (Ray et al. 2013; Deshmukh et al. 2014). However, soybean
yield is threatened by various abiotic stresses mainly drought (Phang et al. 2008;
Manavalan et al. 2009). Adverse environmental factor mainly drought leads to
morphological, physiological, biochemical, and molecular changes that adversely
affect plant growth and productivity (Wang et al. 2001). Thus, understanding
responses of soybean plants to drought stress and enhancing abiotic stress resilience
to maintain genetic yield potential are extremely demanding areas in agricultural
research. To improve drought stress tolerance in soybean, a wide range of
approaches, including gene discovery, QTL mapping, genome-wide association
studies (GWAS), and biotechnologcal approaches such as genomic selection and
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G. K. Satpute et al.
approaches will be very useful for enhancing drought stress tolerance in soybean,
leading to cultivar development. Elucidation of function of genes and their
integration in soybean genotypes by molecular breeding and genomic approaches
and utilizing robust phenotyping tools to evaluate drought adaptive traits will be
crucial for understanding response of soybean plants to drought stress. Recent
advances in genomics lead identification, functional characterization, and introgression of genes associated with adaptation of soybean plants to drought stress.
In order to perform genetic and genomic analysis, molecular markers have been
employed on RIL or F 2 populations. In addition, the genome typified with single
nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and its utilization in molecular breeding
applications like QTL mapping, positional cloning, association mapping studies,
genomic selection and genome editing is gaining impetus. Thus, the rapid
development of soybean genomics and transcriptomics has provided tremendous
opportunity for the genetic improvement of soybean for drought tolerance with
yield stability.
Keywords
Drought tolerance · Abiotic stress · Quantitative trait loci · Breeding · Genetic
engineering · Signal transduction · Transcriptomic approaches
4.1
Introduction
Soybean is one of the most important crops in the world and provides oil and protein
for both humans and livestock. Global food security is a major challenging task for
world agricultural community since the world population is growing exponentially
and crop cultivable land is decreasing due to adverse climatic conditions (Foley et al.
2011). The USA, Brazil, Argentina, China, and India account for about 93% of
global soybean production. It is one of the most economical sources of good quality
protein (40%), edible oil (20%), essential amino acids, dietary minerals, vitamins,
and nutraceuticals like isoflavones, tocopherols, etc. of immense health benefits.
Such diverse uses of soybean make it a wildly desired crop, and demand for soybean
is rapidly increasing (Ray et al. 2013; Deshmukh et al. 2014). However, soybean
yield is threatened by various abiotic stresses mainly drought (Phang et al. 2008;
Manavalan et al. 2009). Adverse environmental factor mainly drought leads to
morphological, physiological, biochemical, and molecular changes that adversely
affect plant growth and productivity (Wang et al. 2001). Thus, understanding
responses of soybean plants to drought stress and enhancing abiotic stress resilience
to maintain genetic yield potential are extremely demanding areas in agricultural
research. To improve drought stress tolerance in soybean, a wide range of
approaches, including gene discovery, QTL mapping, genome-wide association
studies (GWAS), and biotechnologcal approaches such as genomic selection and
84
G. K. Satpute et al.