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Genome-Wide Identification and Analysis of the Growth-Regulating Factor (GRF) Gene Family and GRF-Interacting Factor Family in Triticum aestivum L.

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Abstract

Growth-regulating factors (GRFs) are unique transcription factors in plants. GRFs can interact with SNH (SYT N-terminal homology) domains in GRF-interacting factor (GIF) proteins via the N-terminal QLQ (Gln, Leu, Gln) domain to form functional complexes and participate in the regulation of downstream gene expression. In this study, we systematically identified the GRF gene family and GIF gene family in wheat and its relatives comprising Triticum urartu, Triticum dicoccoides, and Aegilops tauschii. Thirty GRF gene members are present in wheat, which are distributed on 12 chromosomes and they have 2–5 protein-coding regions. They all contain QLQ and WRC (Trp, Arg, Cys) conserved domains. Wheat possesses only eight members of the GIF gene family, which are distributed on six chromosomes. All wheat GIF (TaGIF) proteins have highly conserved SNH and QG (Gln, Gly) domains. The wheat GRF (TaGRF) gene family has 13 pairs of segmental duplication genes and no tandem duplication genes; the TaGIF gene family has two pairs of segmental duplication genes and no tandem duplication genes. It is speculated that segmental duplication events may be the main reason for the amplification of TaGRF gene family and TaGIF gene family. Based on published transcriptome data and qRT-PCR results of 8 TaGRF genes and 4 TaGIF genes, all of the genes responded strongly to osmotic stress, and the expression levels of TaGRF21 and TaGIF5 were also significantly upregulated under drought and cold stress conditions. The results obtained in this study may facilitate further investigations of the functions of TaGRF genes and TaGIF genes in order to identify candidate genes for use in stress-resistant wheat breeding programs.

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Funding

This study was supported by the National Key R&D Program of China (No. 2017YFD0100704), National Special Program for Transgenetic Wheat Breeding (No. 2016ZX08002003), and the Key Agricultural Innovation China Program of Shaanxi Province (No. 2019ZDLNY04-02).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Crop Stress Biology in Arid Areas and College of Agronomy, Northwest A&F University, 3 Taicheng Rd, Yangling, 712100, Shaanxi, People’s Republic of China

    Ting Zan, Li Zhang, Tingting Xie & Liqun Li

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  1. Ting Zan
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  2. Li Zhang
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  3. Tingting Xie
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  4. Liqun Li
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Contributions

TZ and LL designed the study. TZ, LZ, and TX analyzed the data. LL provided reagents and materials for the experiments. ZT wrote the manuscript. LL revised the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Liqun Li.

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Supplementary Table S1

Characteristic features of GRF genes in wheat and its relatives. Supplementary file 1 (XLSX 16 kb)

Supplementary Table S2

Characteristic features of GIF genes in wheat and its relatives. Supplementary file 2 (XLSX 13 kb)

Supplementary Table S3

Homologous genes of TaGRF genes and TaGIF genes on different subgenomics. Supplementary file 3 (XLSX 9 kb)

Supplementary Table S4

Segmental duplicate genes of TaGRF gene family and TaGIF gene family. Supplementary file 4 (XLSX 9 kb)

Supplementary Table S5

Homologous gene pairs between wheat and representative plant species. Supplementary file 5 (XLSX 10 kb)

Supplementary Table S6

Secondary structure prediction of TaGRF genes and TaGIF genes. Supplementary file 6 (XLSX 10 kb)

Supplementary Table S7

RNA-Seq data for TaGRF genes and TaGIF genes. Supplementary file 7 (XLSX 15 kb)

Supplementary Table S8

List of primers used for TaGRF genes and TaGIF genes expression analysis. Supplementary file 8 (XLSX 9 kb)

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Zan, T., Zhang, L., Xie, T. et al. Genome-Wide Identification and Analysis of the Growth-Regulating Factor (GRF) Gene Family and GRF-Interacting Factor Family in Triticum aestivum L.. Biochem Genet 58, 705–724 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10528-020-09969-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10528-020-09969-8

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