Plants experience various environmental stresses, but tolerance to these adverse conditions is a very complex phenomenon. The present research aimed to evaluate a set of genes involved in osmotic response, comparing soybean and medicago with the well-described Arabidopsis thaliana model plant. Based on 103 Arabidopsis proteins from 27 categories of osmotic stress response, comparative analyses against Genosoja and Medicago truncatula databases allowed the identification of 1,088 soybean and 1,210 Medicago sequences. The analysis showed a high number of sequences and high diversity, comprising genes from all categories in both organisms. Genes with unknown function were among the most representative, followed by transcription factors, ion transport proteins, water channel, plant defense, protein degradation, cellular structure, organization & biogenesis and senescence. An analysis of sequences with unknown function allowed the annotation of 174 soybean and 217 Medicago sequences, most of them concerning transcription factors. However, for about 30% of the sequences no function could be attributed using in silico procedures. The establishment of a gene set involved in osmotic stress responses in soybean and barrel medic will help to better understand the survival mechanisms for this type of stress condition in legumes.

Drought cause serious yield losses in soybean (Glycine max), roots being the first plant organ to detect the water-stress signals triggering defense mechanisms. We used two drought induction systems to identify genes differentially expressed in the roots of the drought-tolerant soybean cultivar MG/BR46 (Conquista) and characterize their expression levels during water deficit. Soybean plants grown in nutrient solution hydroponically and in sand-pots were submitted to water stress and gene expression analysis was conducted using the differential display (DD) and real time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) techniques. Three differentially expressed mRNA transcripts showed homology to the Antirrhinum majus basic helix-loop-helix transcription factor bHLH, the Arabidopsis thaliana phosphatidylinositol transfer protein PITP and the auxin-independent growth regulator 1 (axi 1). The hydroponic experiments showed that after 100 min outside the nutrient solution photosynthesis completely stopped, stomata closed and leaf temperature rose. Both stress induction treatments produced significant decrease in the mitotic indices of root cells. Axi 1, PITP and bHLH were not only differentially expressed during dehydration in the hydroponics experiments but also during induced drought in the pot experiments. Although, there were differences between the two sets of experiments in the time at which up or down regulation occurred, the expression pattern of all three transcripts was related. Similar gene expression and cytological analysis results occurred in both systems, suggesting that hydroponics could be used to simulate drought detection by roots growing in soil and thus facilitate rapid and easy root sampling.