Abstract
Orchids have great diversity of specialized pollination and ecological strategies and provide a rich setting for studying evolutionary relationships and molecular biology. The sophisticated orchid flower morphology offers an opportunity to discover new variant genes and different levels of complexity in the morphogenesis of flowers. To obtain plentiful gene information from orchid reproductive organs, we constructed a cDNA library of mature flower buds of Phalaenopsis equestris, a native diploid species of Phalaenopsis in Taiwan. A total of 5,593 expressed sequence tags (ESTs) from randomly selected clones were identified and characterized. Cluster analysis enabled the identification of a unigene set of 3,688 sequences. The abundance of transcripts with predicted cellular roles were functionally characterized by using the BLASTX matches to known proteins. Comparison of the relative EST frequencies based on functional categories among floral tissues of five species including P. equestris, Acorus Americanus, Asparagus officinalis, Oryza sativa, and Arabidopsis thaliana was performed. The most highly transcribed genes in Phalaenopsis floral buds are those coding for RNA-dependent RNA polymerase of Cymbidium mosaic virus, followed by heat shock protein genes. A total 217 putative transcription factor related ESTs were identified. C3H and trihelix families occupied 25% of the transcribed transcription factor genes, indicating that the profile of the transcription factors in orchid flower buds is polarized. The extensive analysis of the genes in floral organs adds to the growing repertoire of known plant genes and may also reveal unique features of the reproductive organs of orchids.
Original language | English |
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Title of host publication | Orchid Biotechnology |
Publisher | World Scientific Publishing Co. |
Pages | 145-164 |
Number of pages | 20 |
ISBN (Electronic) | 9789812775900 |
ISBN (Print) | 9812706194, 9789812706195 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2007 Jan 1 |
All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes
- General Biochemistry,Genetics and Molecular Biology