Genome-Wide Characterization of VDAC Gene Family in Soybean ( L.) and In Silico Expression Profiling in Response to Drought and Salt Stress.

Soybean ( L.) is grown worldwide to obtain edible oil, livestock feed, and biodiesel. However, drought and salt stress are becoming serious challenges to global soybean cultivation as they retard the growth of soybean plants and cause significant yield losses. Voltage-dependent anion-selective channel (VDAC) proteins are well-known for their role in drought and salt tolerance in crop plants. In this study, we identified 111 putative VDAC genes randomly distributed in genomes of 14 plant species, including cultivated soybean () and wild soybean (). The comparative phylogenetic studies classified these genes into six different clades and found the highest structural similarities among VDAC genes of and . From the conserved domain database, porin-3 (PF01459) was found to be the conserved domain in all VDAC proteins. Furthermore, gene annotation studies revealed the role of proteins in voltage-gated anion channel activity. These proteins were also found to interact with other proteins, especially mitochondrial receptors. A total of 103 miRNAs were predicted to target fifteen genes. In , these genes were found to be segmentally duplicated and randomly distributed on twelve chromosomes. Transcriptomic analysis revealed that the gene showed overexpression in root nodules, whereas the 1, , and genes showed overexpression under drought and salt stress conditions.