Researchers at Jilin Academy of Agricultural Sciences and partners successfully developed drought tolerant soybean with the help of a gene from the fungus Aspergillus glaucus. The results are published in Transgenic Research.

Salt stress is a major concern in soybean production because it impacts yield and quality, leading to significant losses. Thus, the researchers transferred the salt tolerance gene AgGlpF from Aspergillus to the soybean genome using the cotyledonary node transformation method. Stable expression of the Arpegillus gene was confirmed through several tests. The resulting soybean plants containing the gene exhibited significant tolerance to salt stress conditions, compared to non-transformed soybean plants which showed withering and dropping of leaves after nine days.

Based on the results of the study, the transfer of AgGlpF to the soybean genome is an effective technique to improve soybean's tolerance to salt stress.

Read more findings in Transgenic Research.