Comprehensive Analyses of NAC Transcription Factor Family in Almond () and Their Differential Gene Expression during Fruit Development.

As plant specific transcription factors, NAC (NAM, ATAF1/2, CUC2) domain is involved in the plant development and stress responses. Due to the vitality of NAC gene family, BLASTp was performed to identify NAC genes in almond (). Further, phylogenetic and syntenic analyses were performed to determine the homology and evolutionary relationship. Gene duplication, gene structure, motif, subcellular localization, and -regulatory analyses were performed to assess the function of . Whereas RNA-seq analysis was performed to determine the differential expression of in fruits at various developmental stages. We identified 106 NAC genes in genome and were renamed according to their chromosomal distribution. Phylogenetic analysis in both and revealed the presence of 14 subfamilies. Motif and gene structure followed a pattern according to the position in phylogenetic subfamilies. Majority of NAC are localized in the nucleus and have ABA-responsive elements in the upstream region of . Differential gene expression analyses revealed one and six that were up and down-regulated, respectively, at all development stages. This study provides insights into the structure and function of along with their role in the fruit development to enhance an understanding of NAC in .