Comparative in silico analysis of Eragrostis tef (Zucc.) Trotter with other species for elucidating presence of growth regulating factors (GRFs)

Abstract

Eragrostis tef (Zucc.) Trotter is becoming popular in the world due to its gluten free seeds and suitability to raise under marginal environment unlike major cereals grown worldwide. Growth Regulating Factors (GRF) are class of transcription factors involved in various biological processes and abiotic stress responses. No reports are available on characterization and phylogenetic relationships of GRFs in tef and few only in other plants. In this study, 170 GRF sequences from eleven plants were used as query to BLAST, in the available databases and resulted in four distinct EtGRFs. Two highly conserved QLQ, WRC, and the rare FFD domains were identified in selected range of GRF proteins. Phylogenetic analysis from MEGA-X clustered into 7 major groups and EtGRFs shared common ancestral route with GRFs from Setaria italica var. italica (L.) P. Beauv.), Oryza sativa subsp. indica (L.) Kato, Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench, Panicum hallii Vasey and Zea mays subsp. mexicana (Schrad.) H. H. Iltis. Promoter analysis revealed the presence of various binding units known to play ontological roles. Protein structures and association network analysis confirmed EtGRFs as interologs to structural functions of GRF genes in closely related plants. The finding contributes to the understanding of structural and functional roles of GRFs in Eragrostis tef and other cereals.