Identification and analysis of the NAC transcription factor family in Triticum urartu

NAC transcription factors are one of plant-specific gene families with diverse functions, and they regulate plant development, organ formation and stress responses. Currently, the researches about NAC transcription factors mainly focus on model plants, Arabidopsis and rice, whereas such studies are hardly reported in wheat and other plants. In this study, the full-length coding sequences (CDS) of NAC transcription factors from Triticum urartu (TuNAC) were identified through bioinformatic analysis. Their biological function, evolutionary relationship, gene duplication and chromosomal locations were further predicted and analyzed. The quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) assay was used to verify the expression pattern of abiotic-related TuNAC transcription factors. A total of 87 TuNAC transcription factors with full-length CDS were identified, which were divided into seven subgroups through phylogenetic analysis. Thirty-nine TuNAC transcription factors were located on seven chromosomes, and five pairs of TuNAC transcription factors were duplicated. The expression of four TuNAC transcription factors was consistently increased under diverse abiotic stress by qRT-PCR assay. Our study thus provides basis for further functional investigations of TuNAC transcription factors.