High-throughput analysis and characterization of Astragalus membranaceus transcriptome using 454 GS FLX.
Astragalus membranaceus (Fisch.) Bge (AR), one of the most important medicinal plants in Asia, was found to exhibit various bioactivities. Due to limited genomic and transcriptomic data, the biosynthetic pathway of the major bioactive compound in AR, is currently unclear. In this study, 454 GS FLX technology was employed to produce a substantial expressed sequence tag (EST) dataset from the AR. In all, 742721 high-quality reads from the AR were produced using Roche GS FLX Titanium. A total of 9893 unique sequences were obtained and annotated by a similarity search against the public databases, and involved in the secondary metabolic pathway, which would facilitate deciphering the molecular mechanism of secondary metabolism in AR. The assembled sequences were annotated with gene names and Gene Ontology (GO) terms. GO revealed the unique sequences that could be assigned to 34 vocabularies. In the KEGG mapping, unique sequences were established as associated with 46 biochemical pathways. These results provided the largest EST collections in AR and will contribute to biosynthetic and biochemical studies that lead to drug improvement. With respect to the genes related to metabolism and biosynthesis pathway were also found. Our work demonstrated the utility of 454 GS FLX as a method for the rapid and cost-effective identification of AR transcriptome, and this EST dataset will be a powerful resource for further studies such as taxonomy, molecular breeding, and secondary metabolism in AR.
Heilongjiang University of Chinese Medicine, Harbin, China; Key Laboratory of Forest Tree Genetic Improvement and Biotechnology, Ministry of Education, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin, PR China.
Xiu-Bo
XB
Liu
Northeast Forestry University, Harbin, PR China.
Ling
L
Ma
Heilongjiang University of Chinese Medicine, Harbin, China.
Ai-Hua
AH
Zhang
Heilongjiang University of Chinese Medicine, Harbin, China.
Yan-He
YH
Zhang
Key Laboratory of Forest Tree Genetic Improvement and Biotechnology, Ministry of Education, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin, PR China.
Jing
J
Jiang
Heilongjiang University of Chinese Medicine, Harbin, China; Key Laboratory of Forest Tree Genetic Improvement and Biotechnology, Ministry of Education, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin, PR China.
Wei
W
Ma
Heilongjiang University of Chinese Medicine, Harbin, China.
Lei-Ming
LM
Zhang
Heilongjiang University of Chinese Medicine, Harbin, China.
Wei-Chao
WC
Ren
First Affiliated Hospital of Qiqihar Medical University, Qiqihar, PR China.
Xiang-Jun
XJ
Kong
D027885:Astragalus propinquus / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D020224:Expressed Sequence Tags; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; D059014:High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing / Q000295:instrumentation; D053858:Metabolic Networks and Pathways / Q000235:genetics*; D058977:Molecular Sequence Annotation; D010946:Plants, Medicinal / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D059467:Transcriptome