Use of Non‐Normalized, Non‐Amplified cDNA for 454‐Based RNA Sequencing of Fleshy Melon Fruit

Abstract

The melon (Cucumis melo L.) fruit is an important crop and model system for the genomic study of both fleshy fruit development and the Cucurbitaceae family. To obtain an accurate representation of the melon fruit transcriptome based on expressed sequence tag (EST) abundance in 454‐pyrosequencing data, we prepared double‐stranded complementary DNA (cDNA) of melon without the usual amplification and normalization steps. A purification step was also included to eliminate small fragments. Complementary DNAs were obtained from 14 individual fruit libraries derived from two genotypes, separated into flesh and peel tissues, and sampled throughout fruit development. Pyrosequencing was performed using Genome Sequencer FLX (GS FLX) technology, resulting in 1,215,359 reads, with mean length of >200 nucleotides. The global digital expression data was validated by comparative reverse transcription quantitative real‐time polymerase chain reaction (RT‐qPCR) of 40 selected genes and expression patterns were similar for the two methods. The results indicate that high‐quality, nonbiased cDNA for next‐generation sequencing can be prepared from mature, fleshy fruit, which are notorious for difficulties in ribonucleic acid (RNA) preparation.