Identification of Sorghum SBP Gene Family and Their Expression Patterns under Drought Stress
In the higher plants,SQUAMOSA promoter binding protein-box(SBP)is widely involved in plant growth,flowering regulation and programmed cell death.In this study,the sorghum SBP genes were i-dentified,and then their bioinformatics analysis was conducted and their expression under PEG-6000 simula-ted drought stress was analyzed using qRT-PCR.The results showed that 19 members of sorghum SBP family were identified.Except the 8th chromosome,the SBP genes were distributed on all the other 9 chromosomes.The SBP proteins were hydrophilic proteins,and most of them were located in nucleus at subcellular level.Similar to those of Oryza sativa,the sorghum SBP members also could be divided into three groups through phylogenetic analysis,containing 7,5 and 7 members respectively;sorghum SBPs had closer relationships with those of Oryza sativa and Zea mays.The prediction results of cis-acting elements indicated that sorghum SBPs might participate in abscisic acid and methyl jasmonate signaling pathways,and some members might be related to plant low temperature response and circadian rhythm regulation.qRT-PCR analysis results showed that the expression of sorghum SBP genes were tissue-specific,and 17 genes were induced to up-regulate ex-pression under simulated drought conditions and showed differentiated expression patterns with the extension of stress time.These results could provide theoretical bases for subsequent research on SBP genes function.