title: Designing universal primers for the isolation of DNA sequences encoding Proanthocyanidins biosynthetic enzymes in Crataegus aronia.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Hawthorn is the common name of all plant species in the genus Crataegus, which belongs to the Rosaceae family. Crataegus are considered useful medicinal plants because of their high content of proanthocyanidins (PAs) and other related compounds. To improve PAs production in Crataegus tissues, the sequences of genes encoding PAs biosynthetic enzymes are required.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Different bioinformatics tools, including BLAST, multiple sequence alignment and alignment PCR analysis were used to design primers suitable for the amplification of DNA fragments from 10 candidate genes encoding enzymes involved in PAs biosynthesis in C. aronia. DNA sequencing results proved the utility of the designed primers. The primers were used successfully to amplify DNA fragments of different PAs biosynthesis genes in different Rosaceae plants.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  To the best of our knowledge, this is the first use of the alignment PCR approach to isolate DNA sequences encoding PAs biosynthetic enzymes in Rosaceae plants.
authors.affiliation: Department of Horticulture and Crop Science, University of Jordan, Amman, Jordan.
authors.forename: Afnan Saeid
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Zuiter
authors.forename: Jammal
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sawwan
authors.forename: Ayed
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Al Abdallat
mesh_terms: D019295:Computational Biology; D027825:Crataegus / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics*; D017931:DNA Primers / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics*; D018744:DNA, Plant / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D007597:Jordan; D046936:Photinia / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics*; D010940:Plant Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D010946:Plants, Medicinal / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D044945:Proanthocyanidins / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
chemical_list: D017931:DNA Primers; D018744:DNA, Plant; D010940:Plant Proteins; D044945:Proanthocyanidins