title: An EST resource for cassava and other species of Euphorbiaceae.
abstract: Cassava (Manihot esculenta) is a major food staple for nearly 600 million people in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Major losses in yield result from biotic and abiotic stresses that include diseases such as Cassava Mosaic Disease (CMD) and Cassava Bacterial Blight (CBB), drought, and acid soils. Additional losses also occur from deterioration during the post-harvest storage of roots. To help cassava breeders overcome these obstacles, the scientific community has turned to modern genomics approaches to identify key genetic characteristics associated with resistance to these yield-limiting factors. One approach for developing a genomics program requires the development of ESTs (expressed sequence tags). To date, nearly 23,000 ESTs have been developed from various cassava tissues, and genotypes. Preliminary analysis indicates existing EST resources contain at least 6000-7000 unigenes. Data presented in this report indicate that the cassava ESTs will be a valuable resource for the study of genetic diversity, stress resistance, and growth and development, not only in cassava, but also other members of the Euphorbiaceae family.
authors.affiliation: USDA/ARS, Biosciences Research Laboratory, 1605 Albrecht Blvd., P.O. Box 5674, State University Station, Fargo, ND, 58105, USA. andersjv@fargo.ars.usda.gov
authors.forename: James V
authors.initials: JV
authors.lastname: Anderson
authors.forename: Michel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Delseny
authors.forename: Martin A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Fregene
authors.forename: Veronique
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Jorge
authors.forename: Chikelu
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Mba
authors.forename: Camilo
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lopez
authors.forename: Silvia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Restrepo
authors.forename: Mauricio
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Soto
authors.forename: Benoit
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Piegu
authors.forename: Valerie
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Verdier
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Cooke
authors.forename: Joe
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Tohme
authors.forename: David P
authors.initials: DP
authors.lastname: Horvath
mesh_terms: D000483:Alleles; D002874:Chromosome Mapping; D019665:Euphorbiaceae / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics*; D020224:Expressed Sequence Tags; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D005787:Gene Frequency; D015723:Gene Library; D017343:Genes, Plant / Q000235:genetics; D023281:Genomics / Q000379:methods; D002365:Manihot / Q000235:genetics*; D020411:Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis; D018515:Plant Leaves / Q000235:genetics; D018517:Plant Roots / Q000235:genetics; D013045:Species Specificity