Abstract:Light harvesting chlorophyll a/b-binding protein (Lhc) directly affects the efficiency of photosynthetic system and crop yield. Wheat is one of the staple food crops in China, while the abiotic stresses seriously destabilize the yield and quality in its lifecycle. In order to systematically study the characteristics of wheat Lhc gene family members, in this study, the bioinformatics analysis and the transcriptional profile analysis of differently expressed genes or highly expressed genes were carried out. 96 Lhc genes were identified based on wheat reference genome sequence. Except that four genes (TaLhca5.1, TaLhcb1.31, TaLhcb1.39 and TaLhcb1.29) were not assigned to the chromosomes, the remaining genes were found on 19 chromosomes except 3A and 3D. The Lhc genes belong to three subfamilies in phylogeny, with each family having the similarity on gene structure and motif. In the promoter region of Lhc genes, a large number of stress response elements and growth and development related response elements were found. Expression patterns of Lhc gene in root, stem, leaf, spike and grain are different, while a higher expression was observed in leaves. Transcripts of genes TaLhca3.3, TaLhcb1.7 and TaLhcb1.20 were increased initially, followed by a decrease, whereas a decrease on gene expression of the gene TaLhcb1.46 was detected.