Genome-Wide Identification, Characterization, and Expression Profiling Analysis of SPL Gene Family during the Inflorescence Development in .

is the most widely cultivated perennial legume forage in temperate region around the world. It has rich nutritional value and good palatability, seasonal complementarity with grasses, and can improve the feed intake and digestibility of livestock. However, flowering time and inflorescence development directly affects the quality and yield of , as well as seed production. The ( gene family is a plant specific transcription factor family, which has been proved to play a critical role in regulating plant formation time and development of flowers. In this study, a total of 37 genes were identified from the whole genome of and were divided into nine clades based on phylogenetic tree. Seventeen genes have potential target sites for miR156. The conserved motif of squamosa promoter binding protein (SBP) contains two zinc finger structures and one NLS structure. Gene structure analysis showed that all genes contained SBP domain, while ankyrin repeat region was just distributed in part of genes. 37 genes were relatively dispersedly distributed on 16 chromosomes, and 5 pairs of segmental repeat genes were found, which indicated that segmental duplication was the main way of gene expansion. Furthermore, the gene expression profiling showed that , and were highly expressed only in the early stage of inflorescence development, while and are highly expressed only in the mature inflorescence. Significantly, the expression of and increased gradually with the development of inflorescences. The results of this study will provide valuable clues for candidate gene selection and elucidating the molecular mechanism of flowering regulation.