Expressed sequence tags (ESTs) from young leaves of Metroxylon sagu

Ching Ching Wee,Hairul Azman Roslan

doi:10.1007/s13205-012-0048-6

Abstract

Sago palm, or Metroxylon sagu, is a hardy and versatile plant that is able to tolerate many stresses, biotic and abiotic, during its growth. It is one of the plants that are able to grow in waterlogged area where others could not. Apart from that sago palm is also a source of starch, contributes economically to the people and an important export for the state of Sarawak. Despite the importance of sago palm especially in the production of starch and its ability to withstand stresses, so far, not many molecular studies have been reported on sago palm. To study the characters in sago palm, transcriptome analysis was conducted where it would give a better understanding of the plant development through gene expression. Here, we report the construction of a cDNA library and preliminary expressed sequence tags analysis from the young leaves of sago palm. A total of 434 clones were sequenced with inserts ranging from 1,000 to 3,000 bps with primary and amplified titers of 8 × 105 and 1.0 × 109 pfu/ml, respectively. Clustering of these sequences resulted in a set of 372 tentative unigenes comprising 340 singletons and 32 contigs. The database was also annotated with BLAST2GO which showed that majority of the transcripts were involved in primary metabolism and stress tolerance.

Highlights

Sago palm (Metroxylon sagu Rottb.) is a monocotyledonous plant belonging to the order Arecales, family Palmae, and subfamily Calamoideae
It has been reported that the production of starch from sago palm is four times higher than starch derived from rice (Oryza sativa) (Lal 2003)
Several transcripts that are important for the synthesis of the first fully formed purine nucleotide, inosine monophosphate (IMP) in nucleic acid metabolism was detected in expressed sequence tag (EST) database such as glutamine synthase, glycine-rich protein and aspartate aminotransferase

Summary

Introduction

Sago palm (Metroxylon sagu Rottb.) is a monocotyledonous plant belonging to the order Arecales, family Palmae, and subfamily Calamoideae. The plant can be found around South East Asia and diffused from its native to other places due to human activity (Yen 1995) It is an important agricultural crop for the state of Sarawak, Malaysia, and having the largest growing area in the state. It has been reported that the production of starch from sago palm is four times higher than starch derived from rice (Oryza sativa) (Lal 2003) Another advantage of sago palm is in its ability to grow in swamp or waterlogged area in the South East Asia and surrounding (Singhal et al 2008), and acidic peat soil with high concentration of metals such as aluminum, iron, and manganese, to which most crops are unable to thrive (Yen 1995). Depite its adaptability towards harsh conditions and the economic importance of sago palm, reports on molecular work for this plant is very few

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