Soybean is one of the important oil crops and a major source of protein and lipids. Drought can cause severe soybean yields. Dehydrin protein (DHN) is a subfamily of LEA proteins that play an important role in plant responses to abiotic stresses. In this study, the soybean GmDHN9 gene was cloned and induced under a variety of abiotic stresses. Results showed that the GmDHN9 gene response was more pronounced under drought induction. Subcellular localization results indicated that the protein was localized in the cytoplasm. The role of transgenic Arabidopsis plants in drought stress response was further studied. Under drought stress, the germination rate, root length, chlorophyll, proline, relative water content, and antioxidant enzyme content of transgenic Arabidopsis thaliana transgenic genes were higher than those of wild-type plants, and transgenic plants contained less O2-, H2O2 and MDA contents. In short, the GmDHN9 gene can regulate the homeostasis of ROS and enhance the drought resistance of plants.
Keywords: dehydrin; drought resistance; function; gene expression; reactive oxygen species.