An expressed sequence tags analysis for leaves of Chinese milk vetch (Astragalus sinicus)

Abstract

Chinese milk vetch (Astragalus sinicus) is one of the most important green manure crops in temperate zone countries. To identify the genes involved in plant growth, a cDNA library was constructed from the mature leaves of Chinese milk vetch, and expressed sequence tag analysis was performed. Sequencing of the cDNA clones generated 1,027 high-quality expressed sequence tags clustered total 693 unigenes which included 110 Contigs and 583 Singlets. A total of 198 unigenes were most similar to Medicago truncatula genes. Genes related to photosynthesis were highly expressed in our library. The most abundant gene which had 42 clones was annotated as Ribulose bisphosphate carboxylase small chain with the function of carbon utilization by fixation of carbon dioxide. The results suggested that this high-quality library could be a good resource for understanding molecular events of Chinese milk vetch leaf growth, and the full-length clones could be used for crop improvement studies in the future.