Genome-wide analysis of the GRAS gene family in rice and Arabidopsis

Members of the GRAS gene family encode transcriptional regulators that have diverse functions in plant growth and development such as gibberellin signal transduction, root radial patterning, axillary meristem formation, phytochrome A signal transduction, and gametogenesis. Bioinformatic analysis identified 57 and 32 GRAS genes in rice and Arabidopsis, respectively. Here, we provide a complete overview of this gene family, describing the gene structure, gene expression, chromosome localization, protein motif organization, phylogenetic analysis, and comparative analysis between rice and Arabidopsis. Phylogenetic analysis divides the GRAS gene family into eight subfamilies, which have distinct conserved domains and functions. Both genome/segmental duplication and tandem duplication contributed to the expansion of the GRAS gene family in the rice and Arabidopsis genomes. The existence of GRAS-like genes in bryophytes suggests that GRAS is an ancient family of transcription factors, which arose before the appearance of land plants over 400 million years ago.