Comprehensive Morphological and Proteomic Insights into Salinity Stress in Soybean (Glycine max): Elucidating Tolerance Mechanisms and Biomarker Discovery

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

Department of Agronomy and Plant Breeding, Faculty of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Mohaghegh Ardabili University, Ardabil, Iran

10.22126/atic.2025.12082.1216

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate the effects of salinity stress on growth parameters and proteomic responses in soybean. The experiment was conducted as a completely randomized design with three replications and four salinity levels (0, 3, 6, and 9 dS·m-1) under controlled greenhouse conditions at the Faculty of Agriculture, Mohaghegh Ardabili University, in 2019. The results indicated that salinity stress significantly and negatively affected morphological traits. The intensity of these effects varied by genotype, with the DPX cultivar exhibiting the least reduction and the highest tolerance. The traits were stem length, root length, leaf number, and total seedling dry weight. DPX showed the highest tolerance. According to the results of the three-way ANOVA (sampling time × salinity level × genotype), salinity stress significantly affected all evaluated traits, with differences being significant at the 1% and 5% probability thresholds. In the proteomic analysis, two-dimensional electrophoresis (2-DE) of soybean leaves revealed that salinity stress induced significant changes in the expression of several key cellular proteins. Proteins such as Glutathione S-transferase, Ferritin, ATPase, and Glutamine synthetase were upregulated in the DPX genotype, while the expression of Rubisco and Phosphoribulokinase was reduced in the sensitive cultivar, Arian. These results indicate the activation of defense mechanisms, antioxidant responses, ion regulation, and metabolic balance maintenance in the salt-tolerant DPX genotype. Accordingly, the DPX cultivar can be considered a salt-tolerant genotype for use in breeding programs and cultivation in saline soils. Moreover, the identified proteins may serve as potential biomarkers for screening salt-tolerant genotypes and developing molecular-level breeding strategies. These findings contribute to the understanding of soybean salinity tolerance mechanisms and support the integration of proteomic markers into molecular breeding strategies. Ultimately, this approach may accelerate the development of salt-tolerant soybean cultivars to ensure food security under climate change and soil degradation.

Graphical Abstract

Comprehensive Morphological and Proteomic Insights into Salinity Stress in Soybean (Glycine max): Elucidating Tolerance Mechanisms and Biomarker Discovery

Highlights

  • Salinity stress significantly reduced morphological traits, including stem length, root length, leaf number, and total seedling dry weight in soybean.
  • The DPX cultivar exhibited superior tolerance to salinity, maintaining higher growth performance compared to the salt-sensitive Arian cultivar.
  • Proteomic analysis revealed upregulation of key stress-responsive proteins such as Glutathione S-transferase, Ferritin, ATPase, and Glutamine synthetase in the tolerant genotype.
  • Photosynthesis-related proteins like Rubisco and Phosphoribulokinase were downregulated in the sensitive genotype, indicating impaired photosynthetic capacity under stress.
  • Identified proteins offer potential as biomarkers for screening salt-tolerant soybean genotypes and guiding molecular breeding strategies.

Keywords

Main Subjects

References

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Agrotechniques in Industrial Crops

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Available Online from 05 October 2025

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