In silico ANALYSIS OF FLORAL MADS-BOX GENE IN Brachypodium distachyon

MADS-box plays a fundamental role in all stages of the processes leading to flower formation and other diverse developmental processes in plants. Brachypodium distachyon is an excellent model for bioinformatics analysis in temperate grasses and cereals. In this study, analysis of 43 sequences of MADS-box genes, generated from Grassius database was performed in Brachypodium. In order to characterise MADS-box genes involved in plant development and to detect cis-element in MADS-box gene, we analysed conserved motifs, physico-chemical characteristics and the rate of amino acid in Brachypodium. MADS-box was distributed on all Brachypodium chromosomes, but gene clusters were observed on four chromosomes except chromosome 5. Twenty four types of elements were identified in the promoter regions of MADS-box with the G-box containing the highest number of cis elements involved in MADS-box gene family. Our results suggest that G-box can bind to FLC gene which has a key role in flowering control. Our results should help to provide useful data for further functional studies of MADS-box genes in Brachypodium.