title: Comparative Genomic Analysis of theGRFGenes in Chinese Pear (Pyrus bretschneideri Rehd), Poplar (Populous), Grape (Vitis vinifera),Arabidopsisand Rice (Oryza sativa).
abstract: Growth-regulating factors (GRFs) are plant-specific transcription factors that have important functions in regulating plant growth and development. Previous studies on GRF family members focused either on a single or a small set of genes. Here, a comparative genomic analysis of theGRFgene family was performed in poplar (a model tree species),Arabidopsis(a model plant for annual herbaceous dicots), grape (one model plant for perennial dicots), rice (a model plant for monocots) and Chinese pear (one of the economical fruit crops). In total, 58GRFgenes were identified, 12 genes in rice (Oryza sativa), 8 genes in grape (Vitis vinifera), 9 genes inArabidopsis thaliana, 19 genes in poplar (Populus trichocarpa) and 10 genes in Chinese pear (Pyrus bretschneideri). TheGRFgenes were divided into five subfamilies based on the phylogenetic analysis, which was supported by their structural analysis. Furthermore, microsynteny analysis indicated that highly conserved regions of microsynteny were identified in all of the five species tested. And Ka/Ks analysis revealed that purifying selection plays an important role in the maintenance ofGRFgenes. Our results provide basic information onGRFgenes in five plant species and lay the foundation for future research on the functions of these genes.
authors.affiliation: School of Life Sciences, Anhui Agricultural University Hefei, China.
authors.forename: Yunpeng
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Cao
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Tea Plant Biology and Utilization, Anhui Agricultural University Hefei, China.
authors.forename: Yahui
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Han
authors.affiliation: School of Life Sciences, Anhui Agricultural University Hefei, China.
authors.forename: Qing
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Jin
authors.affiliation: School of Life Sciences, Anhui Agricultural University Hefei, China.
authors.forename: Yi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.affiliation: School of Life Sciences, Anhui Agricultural University Hefei, China.
authors.forename: Yongping
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Cai
keywords: GRF; gene duplication; gene structure; microsynteny; molecular evolution