Generation and analysis of expressed sequence tags in perennial ryegrass ( Lolium perenne L.)

Abstract

We report here the generation of 29 cDNA libraries of perennial ryegrass ( Lolium perenne) representing a range of plant organs and developmental stages as well as the single-pass DNA sequencing of randomly selected clones to establish a genomic resource of expressed sequence tags (ESTs) for this key temperate forage grass. Over 44 000 ESTs were produced, analysed by blast searches, categorised functionally, subjected to a cluster analysis leading to the identification of a unigene set corresponding to 14 767 genes. This unigene set, representing approximately half or one third of all expressed sequences in ryegrass, was compared to the Arabidopsis and rice proteome and used to develop a unigene cDNA microarray for genome-wide gene expression analysis in grasses.