Genome-Wide in Silico Analysis of Ethylene Responsive Factors Associated with Stress Responses in Wheat

Abstract Background: Transcription factors have largely been involved in the qualitative and quantitative regulation of gene expression. Among the diverse transcription factor families, AP2 (Apetala2) /ERF (Ethylene responsive factors superfamily is a well-known plant family of proteins for controlling various and diverse stress responses in plants. Ethylene responsive factors (ERF) are known to be vital for generating various stress responses.Results: A total of 181 TaERF proteins were identified in Triticum aestivum. Phylogenetic analysis, conserved motif analysis, chromosomal localization, gene structure analysis and multiple sequence alignment of ERF genes along with protein- protein interaction network analysis was performed. The phylogenetic analysis led to classification of these ERF members into 10 major groups and provided evolutionary relationship among the groups on the basis of similar protein motifs like which include WLG and 15 others. Further analysis revealed exon number, molecular weight, isoelectric point, and length of proteins. Gene ontology analysis concluded that TaERF were involved in responses to many Stressors, revealing their possible function. Sub cellular localization revealed that most of the proteins were confined to nucleus, cytoplasm and mitochondria. Network analysis provided insight of proteins involved in generating responses to stresses based on topological analysis and betweeness centrality of the network based on network theory.Conclusions: Genome-wide identification, gene structure, phylogeny and network analysis of TaERF proteins in Triticum aestivum supplied a solid theoretical foundation for the functional study of TaERF family. The bioinformatics analyses of 181 TaERF were implemented systematically revealing proteins characteristics and structural information.