To search TaFlo2 homologs and predict their deduced protein sequence and structure, Softberry (http://www.softberry.com/berry.phtml) and NCBI (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/) tools were used. The deduced proteins of TaFlo2-A1 (1734 aa), TaFlo2-B1 (1698 aa) and TaFlo2-D1 (1682 aa) were highly similar (>94% identity among themselves) and exhibited >77% similarity with the rice FLO2 protein. Like in the rice FLO2 protein , four tetratricopeptide repeat (TPR) motifs were observed in the deduced TaFLO2 protein at the positions of 947–988, 1032–1072, 944–1017 and 1028–1106 amino acid residues. Furthermore, three mitochondrial CLU domains were also observed at 737–878, 50–162 and 357–401 amino acid residues (Fig. 1a). The TaFLO2 protein showed high similarity with Aegilops tauschii, Brachypodium distachyon and long-grain rice proteins (Fig. 1b).Fig. 1 a Putative structure of the OsFLO2 and TaFLO2 proteins. Clu_N (mitochondrial function, CLU-N-term), CL (clustered mitochondria domain), CLU-center (an uncharacterized central domain of CLU mitochondrial proteins), TPR (tetratricopeptide repeat). b Similarity between the TaFLO2 protein and proteins from related plant species