Juan Li’s scientific contributions

Abstract: GRAS is a plant-specific transcription factor, which plays an important regulatory role in plant growth and development, and abiotic stress response. GRAS gene family has not been reported in Hevea brasiliensis. In this study, bioinformatics tools were used to analyze the physicochemical properties, phylogenetic relationships, gene structures, chromosome positions, and cis-acting elements of promoters of GRAS gene family members in H. brasiliensis. The expression patterns of HbGRAS were analyzed by transcriptome data and real-time quantitative PCR (qPCR). A total of 91 GRAS family members were identified from H. brasiliensis genome, named HbGRAS1-HbGRAS91, with molecular weights ranging from 14.07-89.46 kDa. The results of subcellular localization prediction showed that HbGRAS was mainly localized in the nucleus and chloroplast. Those proteins were divided into 14 subfamilies based on phylogenetic analysis. The gene structures and motif compositions within the same subfamily were relatively conserved. The 91 GRAS family members were distributed in 17 chromosomes and two scaffolds except for chromosome 11 in rubber tree.