Plant Tissue Cult. & Biotech. 17(2): 173-182, 2007 (December)

Novel ESTs from a Jute (Corchorus olitorius L.) cDNA Library

Mohamad W. Wazni, Ahmad S. Islam, J. Matthew Taliaferro, Nabila Anwar and Kanagasabapathi Sathasivan*

Molecular, Cell and Developmental Biology, School of Biological Sciences, The University of Texas at Austin, USA-78712

Key words: Jute cDNA library, Corchorus olitorius, Chitinase, Chaperonin, RSH2, RelA/SpoT, V-ATPase, Small subunit RuBisCO, Metallothionein, Actin 7, and HSPs

Abastract

The paper describes the identification of new expressed sequence tags (ESTs) from a cDNA library of Corchorus olitorius L. var. O-4 after the initial description of the library construction reported recently. The sequence homology search in The Arabidopsis Information Source (TAIR) using the WU-BLAST tool revealed four complete and ten partial cDNA sequences. The complete cDNA sequences, based on their similarities to those of Arabidopsis proteins, encode V-ATPase subunit F, mitochondrial NADH-ubiquinone oxidoreductase, RuBisCO small subunit 1A and heat shock protein (HSP 60). Based on similar homology results the partial cDNAs encode proteins, namely, chaperonin, actin 7, RelA-spoT homology, 60s ribosomal protein L 36a, transport protein, chloroplast inner membrane import protein Tic22, formate dehydrogenase, serine hydroxy-methyltransferase, metallothionein 2B and tansmembrane kinase. These cDNA sequences are new additions to the ESTs that encode chitinase-like protein (Class I) and 60S acidic ribosomal protein reported earlier. All the available cDNA sequences including that for the chitinase-like protein have been registered with GenBank, bearing Accession Nos. EU024510 through EU024520 and EU092254, EU057193-95. The cDNA samples are available for any researchers interested in such ESTs. A Clustal-W study of the amino acid sequences of proteins encoded by cDNA isolated in the present investigation with those of cotton, citrus, Arabidopsis, tobacco and other organisms revealed that the homology is maximum between jute and cotton followed by citrus, grapevine, tobacco and Arabidopsis.

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