| Summary: | (1) Background: Plants respond to pathogen challenge by activating a defense system involving pathogenesis-related (PR) proteins. The PR-5 family includes thaumatin, thaumatin-like proteins (TLPs), and other related proteins. TLPs play an important role in response to biotic and abiotic stresses. Many TLP-encoding genes have been identified and functionally characterized in the model plant species. (2) Results: We identified a total of 90 <i>TLP</i> genes in the <i>G. barbadense</i> genome. They were phylogenetically classified into 10 subfamilies and distributed across 19 chromosomes and nine scaffolds. The genes were characterized by examining their exon–intron structures, promoter <i>cis</i>-elements, conserved domains, synteny and collinearity, gene family evolution, and gene duplications. Several <i>TLP</i> genes were predicted to be targets of miRNAs. Investigation of expression changes of 21 <i>GbTLP</i>s in a <i>G. barbadense</i> cultivar (Hai7124) resistance to <i>Verticillium dahliae</i> revealed 13 <i>GbTLP</i>s being upregulated in response to <i>V. dahliae</i> infection, suggesting a potential role of these <i>GbTLP</i> genes in disease response. (3) Conclusions: The results of this study allow insight into the <i>GbTLP</i> gene family, identify <i>GbTLP</i> genes responsive to <i>V. dahliae</i> infection, and provide candidate genes for future studies of their roles in disease resistance.
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