Identification of HSP60 family gene in the soybean genome and their functional analysis in response to abiotic stresses

60 kDa heat shock proteins (HSP60s) also known as chaperonin (cpn60) play an important role in plant growth and stress response. In this study, 32 HSP60 genes were identified in the soybean genome through bioinformatics tools, which are distributed on 14 chromosomes. Most of these proteins are hydrophilic, acidic, and unstable with a high aliphatic index The evolutionary tree divided HSP60 proteins of soybean, Arabidopsis, and rice into three main groups based on their cellular location. The proteins of different subgroups have highly conserved gene structure, conserved motifs, intron phase, and three-dimensional structure, which can indicate their functional similarities in different subgroups. Several cis-regulatory elements responsive to stresses, growth and hormones were found in the promoter of GmHSP60 genes, that indicate their role in plant growth and response to environmental stresses. Gene ontology (GO) analysis predicted that GmHSP60 genes were responsible for protein folding and refolding in an ATP-dependent manner in response to various stresses. Analysis of the transcriptome pattern (RNA-seq) showed that most of the GmHSP60 genes had high expression in response to salt, drought, cold, heat, submergence, and nutrient deficiency stresses, which indicates their role in improving soybean tolerance to abiotic stresses. Overall, these findings provide useful information to better understand the function of GmHSP60 genes in soybean and facilitate the way for the utilization of chaperonin family genes for achieving plant tolerance against abiotic stresses.