Evolutionary analysis of GRAS gene family for functional and structural insights into hexaploid bread wheat ( Triticum aestivum ).

GRAS proteins are multi-functional, regulating various aspects of plant growth and development. Besides, they are also involved in the stress tolerance of plants. Wheat is one of the major cereal crops of the world and efforts are being made to boost its productivity and stress tolerance to feed the increasing world population. Being a physiologically important transcription factor, GRAS genes can open up new avenues for improvement in wheat. The recent availability of the hexaploid genome sequence of bread wheat ( Triticum aestivum ) provides us an excellent opportunity to analyse the GRAS gene family and gain functional insights. In this study, we identified 183 GRAS genes coding for 194 GRAS proteins. Chromosomal location was identified for all the genes to give some idea about gene duplications. Sequence alignment, followed by phylogenetic analysis helped to classify the TaGRAS genes in 12 subfamilies. Gene and protein structure analysis revealed conservation among the different sub-families. Transcriptome analysis was done using available databases, to reveal the expression pattern under developmental conditions as well as different stress conditions. Altogether, these datasets give important insights into the functional role of different GRAS family members of bread wheat. Besides, it provides an important resource for future investigations into the physiological role of GRAS genes in bread wheat. Finally, this study identified potentially important TaGRAS genes which may help to boost yields and stress tolerance of wheat via control of various physiological aspects.