Development and analysis of EST-SSRs for flax (Linum usitatissimum L.)

Development and validation of genic-SSR markers in sesame by RNA-seq

Background

Sesame (Sesamum indicum L.) is one of the most important oil crops; however, a lack of useful molecular markers hinders current genetic research. We performed transcriptome sequencing of samples from different sesame growth and developmental stages, and mining of genic-SSR markers to identify valuable markers for sesame molecular genetics research.

Results

In this study, 75 bp and 100 bp paired-end RNA-seq was used to sequence 24 cDNA libraries, and 42,566 uni-transcripts were assembled from more than 260 million filtered reads. The total length of uni-transcript sequences was 47.99 Mb, and 7,324 SSRs (SSRs ≥15 bp) and 4,440 SSRs (SSRs ≥18 bp) were identified. On average, there was one genic-SSR per 6.55 kb (SSRs ≥15 bp) or 10.81 kb (SSRs ≥18 bp). Among perfect SSRs (≥18 bp), di-nucleotide motifs (48.01%) were the most abundant, followed by tri- (20.96%), hexa- (25.37%), penta- (2.97%), tetra- (2.12%), and mono-nucleotides (0.57%). The top four motif repeats were (AG/CT)n [1,268 (34.51%)], (CA/TG)n [281 (7.65%)], (AT/AT)n [215 (5.85%)], and (GAA/TTC)n [131 (3.57%)]. A total of 2,164 SSR primer pairs were identified in the 4,440 SSR-containing sequences (≥18 bp), and 300 SSR primer pairs were randomly chosen for validation. These SSR markers were amplified and validated in 25 sesame accessions (24 cultivated accessions, one wild species). 276 (92.0%) primer pairs yielded PCR amplification products in 24 cultivars. Thirty two primer pairs (11.59%) exhibited polymorphisms. Moreover, 203 primer pairs (67.67%) yielded PCR amplicons in the wild accession and 167 (60.51%) were polymorphic between species. A UPGMA dendrogram based on genetic similarity coefficients showed that the correlation between genotype and geographical source was low and that the genetic basis of sesame in China is narrow, as previously reported. The 32 polymorphic primer pairs were validated using an F₂ mapping population; 18 primer pairs exhibited polymorphisms between the parents, and 14 genic-SSRs could be integrated into 9 main linkage groups.

Conclusions

2,164 genic-SSR markers have been developed in sesame using transcriptome sequencing. 276 of 300 validated primer pairs successfully yielded PCR amplicons in 24 cultivated sesame accessions. These markers increase current SSR marker resources and will greatly benefit genetic diversity, qualitative and quantitative trait mapping and marker-assisted selection studies in sesame.

Analysis of 2,297 expressed sequence tags (ESTs) from a cDNA library of flax (Linum ustitatissimum L.) bark tissue

Bast fibre crops are the second most important natural fibre crops following cotton. Of these, flax (Linum ustitatissimum L.) is the most widely planted in the world, with its fibre used for high quality linen textile. A cDNA library of flax bark tissues was constructed with the purpose of identifying genes involved in the Bast fibre development. A total of 2,297 unigene sequences were obtained from 3,200 randomly selected clones of the cDNA library. These sequences were grouped into 155 clusters and 2,142 singletons, which have been submitted to the GenBank databases. By putative functional annotation, 23.3% of these sequences were similar to known proteins in GenBank, 44.0% of these sequences were similar to unknown proteins, and 32.7% of these sequences showed no significant similarity to any other protein sequences in existing databases. Classified by the Gene Ontology, 24.8, 23.1 and 14.3% were assigned to molecular function, biological process, and cellular component GO terms, respectively. By further bioinformatics approaches, about 110 ESTs matched cell wall related genes in the MAIZEWALL database, representing 16 functional categories of all 19 categories, of which, the most abundant category was protein synthesis. Based on the PlantTFDB database, 39 of the 64 transcription factor families in the Arabidopsis thaliana genome were identified as being involved in flax cell wall formation. The sequences and bioinformatics analysis data generated in this paper will be useful for gene expression, cloning and genetic engineering studies to characterize bast fibre development and improve the properties of the bast fibres.

Developing genomic resources in two Linum species via 454 pyrosequencing and genomic reduction

Recent advances in next-generation DNA sequencing (NGS) have enhanced the development of genomic resources such as contigs or single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) for evolutionary studies of a nonmodel species with a complex and unsequenced genome. This study presents an application of a NGS technique in combination with genomic reduction and advanced bioinformatics tools to identify contigs and SNPs from multiple samples of two Linum species. A full Roche 454 GS FLX run of 16 diverse Linum samples representing cultivated flax (Linum usitatissimum L.) and its wild progenitor (Linum bienne Mill.) generated approximately 1.6 million sequence reads with a total length of 498 Mbp. Application of the computational pipeline de novo identification of alleles identified 713 contigs and 1067 SNPs. A blast search revealed alignments of all 713 contigs with 491 existing Linum scaffolds and gene annotations associated with 512 contigs. Sanger sequencing confirmed 95% of 79 selected contigs and 94% of 272 SNPs and identified 211 new SNPs and 19 new indels. The scored 454 SNP data were highly imbalanced for assayed samples. These findings not only are useful for evolutionary studies of Linum species but also help to illustrate the utility of NGS technologies in SNP discovery for nonmodel organisms.

Gene discovery and tissue-specific transcriptome analysis in chickpea with massively parallel pyrosequencing and web resource development

Chickpea (Cicer arietinum) is an important food legume crop but lags in the availability of genomic resources. In this study, we have generated about 2 million high-quality sequences of average length of 372 bp using pyrosequencing technology. The optimization of de novo assembly clearly indicated that hybrid assembly of long-read and short-read primary assemblies gave better results. The hybrid assembly generated a set of 34,760 transcripts with an average length of 1,020 bp representing about 4.8% (35.5 Mb) of the total chickpea genome. We identified more than 4,000 simple sequence repeats, which can be developed as functional molecular markers in chickpea. Putative function and Gene Ontology terms were assigned to at least 73.2% and 71.0% of chickpea transcripts, respectively. We have also identified several chickpea transcripts that showed tissue-specific expression and validated the results using real-time polymerase chain reaction analysis. Based on sequence comparison with other species within the plant kingdom, we identified two sets of lineage-specific genes, including those conserved in the Fabaceae family (legume specific) and those lacking significant similarity with any non chickpea species (chickpea specific). Finally, we have developed a Web resource, Chickpea Transcriptome Database, which provides public access to the data and results reported in this study. The strategy for optimization of de novo assembly presented here may further facilitate the transcriptome sequencing and characterization in other organisms. Most importantly, the data and results reported in this study will help to accelerate research in various areas of genomics and implementing breeding programs in chickpea.

Development of EST-SSR markers in castor bean (Ricinus communis L.) and their utilization for genetic purity testing of hybrids

Expressed sequence tag (EST) databases offer opportunity for the rapid development of simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers in crops. Sequence assembly and clustering of 57 895 ESTs of castor bean resulted in the identification of 10 960 unigenes (6459 singletons and 4501 contigs) having 7429 SSRs. On an average, the unigenes contained 1 SSR for every 1.23 kb of unigene sequence. The identified SSRs mostly consisted of dinucleotide (62.4%) and trinucleotide (33.5%) repeats. The AG class was the most common among the dinucleotide motifs (68.9%), whereas the AAG class (25.9%) was predominant among the trinucleotide motifs. A total of 611 primer pairs were designed for the SSRs, having repeat length more than or equal to 20 nucleotides, of which a set of 130 markers were tested and 92 of these yielding robust amplicons were analyzed for their utility in genetic purity assessment of castor bean hybrids. Nine markers were able to detect polymorphism between the parental lines of nine commercial castor bean hybrids (DCH-32, DCH-177, DCH-519, GCH-2, GCH-4, GCH-5, GCH-6, GCH-7, and RHC-1), and their utility in genetic purity testing was demonstrated. These novel EST-SSR markers would be a valuable addition to the growing molecular marker resources that could be used in genetic improvement programmes of castor bean.

Agricultural recovery of a formerly radioactive area: I. Establishment of high-resolution quantitative protein map of mature flax seeds harvested from the remediated Chernobyl area

In recent years there has been an increasing tendency toward remediation of contaminated areas for agriculture purposes. The study described herein is part of a comprehensive, long-term characterization of crop plants grown in the area formerly contaminated with radioactivity. As a first step, we have established a quantitative map of proteins isolated from mature flax (Linum usitatissimum L.) seeds harvested from plants grown in a remediated plot localized directly in Chernobyl town. Flax was selected because it is a crop of economic and historical importance, despite the relative paucity of molecular resources. We used 2-dimensional electrophoresis followed by tandem mass spectrometry to establish a high-resolution seed proteome map. This approach yielded quantitative information for 318 protein spots. Genomic sequence resources for flax are very limited, leaving us with an "unknown function" annotation for 38% of the proteins analyzed including several that comprise very large spots. In addition to the seed storage proteins, we were able to reliably identify 82 proteins many of which are involved with central metabolism.

Transcript profiling and gene characterization of three fatty acid desaturase genes in high, moderate, and low linolenic acid genotypes of flax (Linum usitatissimum L.) and their role in linolenic acid accumulation

Three genes encoding fatty acid desaturase 3 (fad3a, fad3b, and a novel fad3c) were cloned from four flax genotypes varying in linolenic acid content. Real-time PCR was used to quantify expression levels of the three fad3 genes during seed development. High amounts of both fad3a and fad3b transcripts were observed and reached their peak levels at 20 days after anthesis, except for fad3a from SP2047 where only low level expression was observed throughout seed development. Transcript accumulation of the novel fad3c gene was at similar background levels. The fatty acid composition was analysed for all genotypes and stages of development and compared with the fad3 gene expression patterns. α-Linolenic acid gradually accumulated during seed development, while linoleic acid was transient and decreased in M5791, UGG5-5, and AC McDuff. In contrast, the linolenic acid present in the early stages of development nearly completely disappeared in SP2047, while linoleic acid steadily accumulated. fad3a of the low linolenic acid line SP2047 encoded a truncated protein caused by a premature stop codon resulting from a single point mutation, and the low level of transcript accumulation in this genotype is likely due to nonsense-mediated mRNA decay caused by the premature termination of translation as a result of this early stop codon. Although substantial amounts of transcript accumulation occurred with fad3b of SP2047 genotype, cloning of the gene revealed a mutation in the first histidine box causing an amino acid change. Heterologous expression in yeast of the SP2047 and UGG5-5 fad3b genes showed that the mutation in the histidine box in SP2047 caused the enzyme inactivity. Taken together, these results showed that fad3a and fad3b are responsible for linolenic acid accumulation in flax seeds but did not support a major role for the novel fad3c. These observations were further supported by phenotypic and genotypic assessment of a doubled haploid population. Expression patterns of fad3a and fad3b were highly correlated with linolenic acid accumulation during seed development, with the exception of fad3b in SP2047 whose lack of activity was caused by the histidine box mutation despite its transcript accumulation being similar to that of the fad3b of the other genotypes.

Physical mapping and BAC-end sequence analysis provide initial insights into the flax (Linum usitatissimum L.) genome

BACKGROUND

Flax (Linum usitatissimum L.) is an important source of oil rich in omega-3 fatty acids, which have proven health benefits and utility as an industrial raw material. Flax seeds also contain lignans which are associated with reducing the risk of certain types of cancer. Its bast fibres have broad industrial applications. However, genomic tools needed for molecular breeding were non existent. Hence a project, Total Utilization Flax GENomics (TUFGEN) was initiated. We report here the first genome-wide physical map of flax and the generation and analysis of BAC-end sequences (BES) from 43,776 clones, providing initial insights into the genome.

RESULTS

The physical map consists of 416 contigs spanning ~368 Mb, assembled from 32,025 fingerprints, representing roughly 54.5% to 99.4% of the estimated haploid genome (370-675 Mb). The N50 size of the contigs was estimated to be ~1,494 kb. The longest contig was ~5,562 kb comprising 437 clones. There were 96 contigs containing more than 100 clones. Approximately 54.6 Mb representing 8-14.8% of the genome was obtained from 80,337 BES. Annotation revealed that a large part of the genome consists of ribosomal DNA (~13.8%), followed by known transposable elements at 6.1%. Furthermore, ~7.4% of sequence was identified to harbour novel repeat elements. Homology searches against flax-ESTs and NCBI-ESTs suggested that ~5.6% of the transcriptome is unique to flax. A total of 4064 putative genomic SSRs were identified and are being developed as novel markers for their use in molecular breeding.

CONCLUSION

The first genome-wide physical map of flax constructed with BAC clones provides a framework for accessing target loci with economic importance for marker development and positional cloning. Analysis of the BES has provided insights into the uniqueness of the flax genome. Compared to other plant genomes, the proportion of rDNA was found to be very high whereas the proportion of known transposable elements was low. The SSRs identified from BES will be valuable in saturating existing linkage maps and for anchoring physical and genetic maps. The physical map and paired-end reads from BAC clones will also serve as scaffolds to build and validate the whole genome shotgun assembly.

Genetic diversity of cultivated flax (Linum usitatissimum L.) germplasm assessed by retrotransposon-based markers

Retrotransposon segments were characterized and inter-retrotransposon amplified polymorphism (IRAP) markers developed for cultivated flax (Linum usitatissimum L.) and the Linum genus. Over 75 distinct long terminal repeat retrotransposon segments were cloned, the first set for Linum, and specific primers designed for them. IRAP was then used to evaluate genetic diversity among 708 accessions of cultivated flax comprising 143 landraces, 387 varieties, and 178 breeding lines. These included both traditional and modern, oil (86), fiber (351), and combined-use (271) accessions, originating from 36 countries, and 10 wild Linum species. The set of 10 most polymorphic primers yielded 141 reproducible informative data points per accession, with 52% polymorphism and a 0.34 Shannon diversity index. The maximal genetic diversity was detected among wild Linum species (100% IRAP polymorphism and 0.57 Jaccard similarity), while diversity within cultivated germplasm decreased from landraces (58%, 0.63) to breeding lines (48%, 0.85) and cultivars (50%, 0.81). Application of Bayesian methods for clustering resulted in the robust identification of 20 clusters of accessions, which were unstratified according to origin or user type. This indicates an overlap in genetic diversity despite disruptive selection for fiber versus oil types. Nevertheless, eight clusters contained high proportions (70-100%) of commercial cultivars, whereas two clusters were rich (60%) in landraces. These findings provide a basis for better flax germplasm management, core collection establishment, and exploration of diversity in breeding, as well as for exploration of the role of retrotransposons in flax genome dynamics.

Gene expression analysis of flax seed development

BACKGROUND

Flax, Linum usitatissimum L., is an important crop whose seed oil and stem fiber have multiple industrial applications. Flax seeds are also well-known for their nutritional attributes, viz., omega-3 fatty acids in the oil and lignans and mucilage from the seed coat. In spite of the importance of this crop, there are few molecular resources that can be utilized toward improving seed traits. Here, we describe flax embryo and seed development and generation of comprehensive genomic resources for the flax seed.

RESULTS

We describe a large-scale generation and analysis of expressed sequences in various tissues. Collectively, the 13 libraries we have used provide a broad representation of genes active in developing embryos (globular, heart, torpedo, cotyledon and mature stages) seed coats (globular and torpedo stages) and endosperm (pooled globular to torpedo stages) and genes expressed in flowers, etiolated seedlings, leaves, and stem tissue. A total of 261,272 expressed sequence tags (EST) (GenBank accessions LIBEST_026995 to LIBEST_027011) were generated. These EST libraries included transcription factor genes that are typically expressed at low levels, indicating that the depth is adequate for in silico expression analysis. Assembly of the ESTs resulted in 30,640 unigenes and 82% of these could be identified on the basis of homology to known and hypothetical genes from other plants. When compared with fully sequenced plant genomes, the flax unigenes resembled poplar and castor bean more than grape, sorghum, rice or Arabidopsis. Nearly one-fifth of these (5,152) had no homologs in sequences reported for any organism, suggesting that this category represents genes that are likely unique to flax. Digital analyses revealed gene expression dynamics for the biosynthesis of a number of important seed constituents during seed development.

CONCLUSIONS

We have developed a foundational database of expressed sequences and collection of plasmid clones that comprise even low-expressed genes such as those encoding transcription factors. This has allowed us to delineate the spatio-temporal aspects of gene expression underlying the biosynthesis of a number of important seed constituents in flax. Flax belongs to a taxonomic group of diverse plants and the large sequence database will allow for evolutionary studies as well.

Development of genic-SSR markers by deep transcriptome sequencing in pigeonpea [Cajanus cajan (L.) Millspaugh]

BACKGROUND

Pigeonpea [Cajanus cajan (L.) Millspaugh], one of the most important food legumes of semi-arid tropical and subtropical regions, has limited genomic resources, particularly expressed sequence based (genic) markers. We report a comprehensive set of validated genic simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers using deep transcriptome sequencing, and its application in genetic diversity analysis and mapping.

RESULTS

In this study, 43,324 transcriptome shotgun assembly unigene contigs were assembled from 1.696 million 454 GS-FLX sequence reads of separate pooled cDNA libraries prepared from leaf, root, stem and immature seed of two pigeonpea varieties, Asha and UPAS 120. A total of 3,771 genic-SSR loci, excluding homopolymeric and compound repeats, were identified; of which 2,877 PCR primer pairs were designed for marker development. Dinucleotide was the most common repeat motif with a frequency of 60.41%, followed by tri- (34.52%), hexa- (2.62%), tetra- (1.67%) and pentanucleotide (0.76%) repeat motifs. Primers were synthesized and tested for 772 of these loci with repeat lengths of ≥ 18 bp. Of these, 550 markers were validated for consistent amplification in eight diverse pigeonpea varieties; 71 were found to be polymorphic on agarose gel electrophoresis. Genetic diversity analysis was done on 22 pigeonpea varieties and eight wild species using 20 highly polymorphic genic-SSR markers. The number of alleles at these loci ranged from 4-10 and the polymorphism information content values ranged from 0.46 to 0.72. Neighbor-joining dendrogram showed distinct separation of the different groups of pigeonpea cultivars and wild species. Deep transcriptome sequencing of the two parental lines helped in silico identification of polymorphic genic-SSR loci to facilitate the rapid development of an intra-species reference genetic map, a subset of which was validated for expected allelic segregation in the reference mapping population.

CONCLUSION

We developed 550 validated genic-SSR markers in pigeonpea using deep transcriptome sequencing. From these, 20 highly polymorphic markers were used to evaluate the genetic relationship among species of the genus Cajanus. A comprehensive set of genic-SSR markers was developed as an important genomic resource for diversity analysis and genetic mapping in pigeonpea.

Fine-mapping of the leaf rust Lr34 locus in Triticum aestivum (L.) and characterization of large germplasm collections support the ABC transporter as essential for gene function

Leaf rust resistance gene Lr34 is likely the most important leaf rust gene characterized to date. It has been characterized as an adult plant resistance gene and is known to enhance the resistance of other leaf rust resistance genes and to condition resistance to a number of other diseases. Located on chromosome 7D, this gene was identified to be one of six co-located genes of which, an ABC transporter was shown to be the only valid candidate. Ten new molecular markers were developed spanning the Lr34 locus, including six novel microsatellite markers (cam), one insertion site-based polymorphism marker (caISBP), two single nucleotide polymorphisms (caSNP), and one gene-specific marker (caIND). Using these new markers and others that were previously published, a comparative fine map of the locus was constructed from five segregating populations representing 1,742 lines. Identification of a susceptible line with a recombination in the 4.9 kb interval between caSNP4 located in the ABC transporter gene and cam8 located just upstream of this gene provided further evidence to support the identity of the ABC transporter as Lr34 by ruling out four of the adjacent genes. Originally, three mutations forming two haplotypes had been described for the ABC transporter gene. A third combination of the three mutations and an additional rare mutation in exon 22 were subsequently described. We identified an additional novel mutation in exon 10 that would cause a frameshift and is likely non-functional. This mutation was only found in Lr34- lines and constituted a novel molecular haplotype. Characterization of two germplasm collections of 700 Triticum aestivum lines permitted us to gain an understanding of the frequency of the ABC haplotypes characterized to date and their distribution in germplasm from and around the world. In addition to the four haplotypes previously described, a fifth haplotype was found in two of the 700 lines from the germplasm collections. These lines displayed the deletion in indel 11 characteristic of Lr34+ lines, but are likely susceptible to leaf rust. Mapping and haplotyping data suggest that of all the markers described herein, marker caIND11 is the best diagnostic marker for marker-assisted selection of Lr34 because it is co-dominant, robust and with the exception of 2/700 lines, it is highly diagnostic. Other markers are also described to provide alternatives for laboratories with different technologies.