Genome-Wide Analysis of the Growth-Regulating Factor (GRF) Family in Aquatic Plants and Their Roles in the ABA-Induced Turion Formation of .

Growth-regulating factors (GRFs) are plant-specific transcription factors that play essential roles in regulating plant growth and stress response. The gene families have been described in several terrestrial plants, but a comprehensive analysis of these genes in diverse aquatic species has not been reported yet. In this study, we identified 130 genes in 13 aquatic plants, including floating plants (, , , , and ), floating-leaved plants ( and ), submersed plants (, , , and ), an emergent plant (), and an amphibious plant (). The gene structures, motifs, and cis-acting regulatory elements of these genes were analyzed. Phylogenetic analysis divided these into five clusters, and ABRE cis-elements were highly enriched in the promoter region of the in floating plants. We found that abscisic acid (ABA) is efficient at inducing the turion of (giant duckweed), accompanied by the fluctuated expression of genes in their fronds. Our results provide information about the gene family in aquatic species and lay the foundation for future studies on the functions of these genes.