Most gene families are transcription factor (TF) families, which have fundamental roles in almost all biological processes (development, growth and response to environmental factors) and have been employed to manipulate various types of metabolic, developmental and stress response pathways in plants. Maize (Zea mays) is one of the most important cereal crops in the world due its importance to human nutrition and health. Thus, identifying and annotating all the gene families in maize is an important primary step in defining their functions and understanding their roles in the regulation of diverse biological processes. In this study, we identified 96 predicted maize gene families and systematically characterized all 5826 of the genes in those families. We have also developed a comprehensive database of maize gene families (the MGFD). To further explore the functions of these gene families, we extensively annotated the genes, including such basic information as protein sequence features, gene structure, Gene Ontology classifications, phylogenetic relationships and expression profiles. The MGFD has a user-friendly web interface with multiple browse and search functions, as well as data downloading. The MGFD is freely available to users at http://mgfd.ahau.edu.cn/. Database URL: http://mgfd.ahau.edu.cn/. © The Author(s) 2016. Published by Oxford University Press.
