ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Plant Sci.
Sec. Plant Abiotic Stress
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpls.2025.1675559
This article is part of the Research TopicPhysiological Growth of Crops in Saline-Alkali Land and Its New Quality Productive Control MethodsView all 6 articles
Root-Centered Sodium Sequestration and Transcriptomic Regulation Under Salt and Alkali Stress in Wild Soybean (Glycine soja)
Provisionally accepted
Meng Wang1Yingyu Qu1Xueli Lu2
Syeda Wajeeha Gillani2Yiru Song1Yu Bai1
Yiqiang Li2
Chengsheng Zhang2Zongchang Xu2*
Chen Meng2*- 1Qingdao Agricultural University, Qingdao, China
- 2Tobacco Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Qingdao, China
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Salt and alkali stress are major constraints on soybean productivity, but their distinct impacts during early development remain insufficiently understood. Wild soybean (Glycine soja), a valuable genetic resource for stress tolerance, was evaluated under salt (0.6% and 1.2% NaCl) and alkali (pH 9.16) stress by assessing germination, seedling traits, ion accumulation, and transcriptomic responses. Salt stress permitted partial germination, whereas alkali stress completely suppressed radicle emergence. Seedling growth and height showed tolerance under salinity, but high pH caused severe wilting and mortality. Ion profiling revealed root Na+ sequestration with stem K+ buffering in salinity, whereas alkali stress confined Na+ to roots, maintaining the highest stem K+/Na+ ratio. Bioaccumulation and translocation factors peaked in roots at 1.2% NaCl and in plants at 0.6% NaCl. Transcriptome analysis identified 7,355 DEGs grouped into five clusters, enriched in phenylpropanoid/flavonoid biosynthesis and hormone signaling. Salt stress upregulated genes including FLS, F3H, and F3′5′H, whereas alkali stress induced CHS, peroxidase, and CYP75B1. Ion transport regulation differed, with HKT1 and KT11 activated under salinity and NIP5-1 under alkalinity. Among 385 TF-related DEGs, MYB, ERF, bHLH, and WRKY dominated (67% of total), with complex TF-gene networks observed under salt stress. Exogenous flavonoids (rutin, eriodictyol) treatment enhanced leaf area, root length, and plant height under salt and alkali stress treatments. These results suggest that G. soja mitigates ion toxicity via root Na+ sequestration, stress-responsive gene regulation, and flavonoid-mediated growth enhancement, providing insights into adaptive mechanisms under salt and alkali stress.
Keywords: ion homeostasis, Flavonoids, abiotic stress, Ion compartmentalization, Wild soybean
Received: 31 Jul 2025; Accepted: 03 Sep 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Wang, Qu, Lu, Gillani, Song, Bai, Li, Zhang, Xu and Meng. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Zongchang Xu, Tobacco Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Qingdao, China
Chen Meng, Tobacco Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Qingdao, China
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