Identification and Characterization of Abiotic Stress Responsive CBL-CIPK Family Genes in .

The calcineurin B-like protein (CBL) and CBL-interacting protein kinase (CIPK) play important roles in plant signal transduction and response to abiotic stress. Plants of genus contain many important forages, and their growth is often affected by a variety of abiotic stresses. However, studies on the CBL and CIPK family member and their function are rare in . In this study, a total of 23 and 58 genes were identified from the genome of as an important forage crop, and as the model plant. Phylogenetic analysis suggested that these and genes could be classified into five and seven groups, respectively. Moreover, these genes/proteins showed diverse exon-intron organizations, architectures of conserved protein motifs. Many stress-related -acting elements were found in their promoter region. In addition, transcriptional analyses showed that these and genes exhibited distinct expression patterns in various tissues, and in response to drought, salt, and abscisic acid treatments. In particular, the expression levels of (), (), and () were significantly increased under PEG, NaCl, and ABA treatments. Collectively, our study suggested that and genes play crucial roles in response to various abiotic stresses in .