WinRoots: A High-Throughput Cultivation and Phenotyping System for Plant Phenomics Studies Under Soil Stress

Salt Tolerance in Soybeans: Focus on Screening Methods and Genetics

Salinity greatly affects the production of soybeans in arid and semi-arid lands around the world. The responses of soybeans to salt stress at germination, emergence, and other seedling stages have been evaluated in multitudes of studies over the past decades. Considerable salt-tolerant accessions have been identified. The association between salt tolerance responses during early and later growth stages may not be as significant as expected. Genetic analysis has confirmed that salt tolerance is distinctly tied to specific soybean developmental stages. Our understanding of salt tolerance mechanisms in soybeans is increasing due to the identification of key salt tolerance genes. In this review, we focus on the methods of soybean salt tolerance screening, progress in forward genetics, potential mechanisms involved in salt tolerance, and the importance of translating laboratory findings into field experiments via marker-assisted pyramiding or genetic engineering approaches, and ultimately developing salt-tolerant soybean varieties that produce high and stable yields. Progress has been made in the past decades, and new technologies will help mine novel salt tolerance genes and translate the mechanism of salt tolerance into new varieties via effective routes.

Subcellular Proteomics to Elucidate Soybean Response to Abiotic Stress

Climate change jeopardizes soybean production by declining seed yield and quality. In this review, the morphophysiological alterations of soybean in response to abiotic stress are summarized, followed by illustrations of cellular metabolisms and regulatory mechanisms to organellar stress based on subcellular proteomics. This highlights the communications associated with reactive oxygen species scavenging, molecular chaperones, and phytohormone signals among subcellular compartments. Given the complexity of climate change and the limitations of plants in coping with multiple abiotic stresses, a generic response to environmental constraints is proposed between calcium and abscisic acid signals in subcellular organelles. This review summarizes the findings of subcellular proteomics in stressed soybean and discusses the future prospects of subcellular proteomics for promoting the improvement of climate-tolerant crops.

Recent advances in methods for in situ root phenotyping

Roots assist plants in absorbing water and nutrients from soil. Thus, they are vital to the survival of nearly all land plants, considering that plants cannot move to seek optimal environmental conditions. Crop species with optimal root system are essential for future food security and key to improving agricultural productivity and sustainability. Root systems can be improved and bred to acquire soil resources efficiently and effectively. This can also reduce adverse environmental impacts by decreasing the need for fertilization and fresh water. Therefore, there is a need to improve and breed crop cultivars with favorable root system. However, the lack of high-throughput root phenotyping tools for characterizing root traits in situ is a barrier to breeding for root system improvement. In recent years, many breakthroughs in the measurement and analysis of roots in a root system have been made. Here, we describe the major advances in root image acquisition and analysis technologies and summarize the advantages and disadvantages of each method. Furthermore, we look forward to the future development direction and trend of root phenotyping methods. This review aims to aid researchers in choosing a more appropriate method for improving the root system.