Abstract
GRAS transcriptional factors have diverse functions in plant growth and development, and are named after the first three transcription factors, namely, GAI (GIBBERELLIC ACID INSENSITIVE), RGA (REPRESSOR OF GAI) and SCR (SCARECROW) identified in this family. Knowledge of the GRAS gene family in maize remains was largely unknown, and their characterization is necessary to understand their importance in the maize life cycle. This study identified 86 GRAS genes in maize, and further characterized with phylogenetics, gene structural analysis, genomic loci, and expression patterns. The 86 GRAS genes were divided into 8 groups (SCL3, HAM, LS, SCR, DELLA, SHR, PAT1 and LISCL) by phylogenetic analysis. Most of the maize GRAS genes contain one exon (80.23%) and closely related members in the phylogenetic tree had similar structure and motif composition. Different motifs especially in the N-terminus might be the sources of their functional divergence. Segmental- and tandem-duplication occurred in this family leading to expansion of maize GRAS genes and the expression patterns of the duplicated genes in the heat map according to the published microarray data were very similar. Quantitative RT-PCR (qRT-PCR) results demonstrated that the expression level of genes in different tissues were different, suggesting their differential roles in plant growth and development. The data set expands our knowledge to understanding the function of GRAS genes in maize, an important crop plant in the world.
Highlights
The GRAS gene family is an important plant-specific transcription factor family whose name is an acronym of the first three identified members: GIBBERELLIC ACID INSENSITIVE (GAI), REPRESSOR OF GA1 (RGA), and SCARECROW (SCR) [1]
These conserved motifs can directly affect the function of GRAS proteins; mutations in the SAW and PFYRE motifs of SLENDER RICE 1 (SLR1) and RGA proteins result in huge phenotypic variation in Arabidopsis [6,7]
The GRAS family is divided into 7 subfamilies at first, DELLA, SCARECROW (SCR), LATERAL SUPPRESSOR (LS), HAIRY MERISTEM (HAM), Phytochrome A signal transduction 1 (PAT1), SHORT-ROOT (SHR) and SCARECROW-LIKE9 (SCL9) [1, 4]
Summary
The GRAS gene family is an important plant-specific transcription factor family whose name is an acronym of the first three identified members: GIBBERELLIC ACID INSENSITIVE (GAI), REPRESSOR OF GA1 (RGA), and SCARECROW (SCR) [1]. While the function of these motifs is unknown, their highly conserved nature suggests that they are critical to GRAS protein function [5] These conserved motifs can directly affect the function of GRAS proteins; mutations in the SAW and PFYRE motifs of SLR1 and RGA proteins result in huge phenotypic variation in Arabidopsis [6,7]. The SCL9 was renamed as LISCL, and a new subfamily SCL3 was established and the GRAS gene family was divided into eight distinct branches, namely LISCL, PAT1, SCL3, DELLA, SCR, SHR, LS and HAM, based on studies on the model plants Arabidopsis and rice [7]. The GRAS gene family has been genome-wide explored in several plant species, including Populus, Arabidopsis, rice, Chinese cabbage, Prunus mume, tomato, sacred lotus, grapevine, Isatis indigotica, Medicago truncatula, Castor Beans, and pine [11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20]
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