Biotechnological strategies to decipher the functions of abiotic stress-associated genes in soybean

Soybean is one of the richest and cheapest proteins and vegetable oil sources. It is adapted to grow in a varied environment; however, yield loss occurs due to multiple abiotic stresses. Abiotic stresses negatively impact plant growth and development, damaging the crop and decreasing productivity. The last two decades have focused tremendously on improving soybean productivity by dissecting physiological and molecular mechanisms for developing abiotic stress-tolerant varieties. Here, we present a review with a comprehensive outlook on the biotechnological approaches to explore the pathways involved in abiotic stress tolerance in soybean. The review focuses on summarizing transgenic and RNA interference-based strategies as well as genome editing tools to validate the function of abiotic stress-associated genes in soybean. We have also highlighted the significant challenges faced in increasing soybean yield against climatic changes using diverse techniques.