Annexins play a crucial role in plant development and response to environmental stimuli. In this study, a total of 23 annexin genes (GmANN1 -GmANN23) were identified from the soybean genome database and for two of them (GmANN11 and GmANN14), complete cDNAs were cloned. GmANN1 -GmANN23 encoded a set of predicted proteins which showed high similarity to other known annexins. Most GmANN genes contained four putative annexin repeats. Generally, a type II Ca 2+ -binding site is found to exist in the first and fourth repeats. GmANN1, 10, 11, 12, and 14 showed different organ-specific expression patterns. Furthermore, expression of these five GmANNs was significantly induced by drought and abscisic acid. Expression of four annexins (GmANN1, 11, 12, and 14) was induced by cold and expression of three annexins (GmANN1, 11, and 12) responded to high salinity.

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