Comprehensive Analysis of Suk. PIF Gene Family and Their Potential Functions in Growth and Development.

Phytochrome-interacting factors (PIFs) are transcription factors with the basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH) domain. As integration factors between different signal pathways, members of the PIF protein family regulate many aspects of plant growth and development, such as seed germination, photomorphogenesis, thermomorphogenesis, rhythm regulation, flowering response, stomatal development, and stress responses. Our previous studies have shown that the gene may regulate plants' adventitious root development through genes. Within the genome, we identified eight () genes. We analysed and named them based on a phylogenetic tree, gene structures, and conserved motifs. Synteny analysis indicated that transposition or segmental duplication events played a minor role in the expansion of . The comparative syntenic analysis combined with phylogenetic analysis provided a deep insight into the phylogenetic relationships of genes, suggesting that proteins are closer to than to . The analysis of cis-acting elements in promoter regions of genes indicated that various elements were related to light, abiotic stress, and plant hormone responsiveness. In addition, we found that these promoters have the transcription factor of () binding motif GTAC. Expression analysis demonstrated that genes, especially , , and might be the potential target genes of in the process of adventitious root formation. Besides providing a comprehensive understanding of the family, we propose a hypothetical gene network regulatory model for adventitious root formation.