Expression Comparison of Oil Biosynthesis Genes in Oil Palm Mesocarp Tissue Using Custom Array.
Gene expression changes that occur during mesocarp development are a major research focus in oil palm research due to the economic importance of this tissue and the relatively rapid increase in lipid content to very high levels at fruit ripeness. Here, we report the development of a transcriptome-based 105,000-probe oil palm mesocarp microarray. The expression of genes involved in fatty acid (FA) and triacylglycerol (TAG) assembly, along with the tricarboxylic acid cycle (TCA) and glycolysis pathway at 16 Weeks After Anthesis (WAA) exhibited significantly higher signals compared to those obtained from a cross-species hybridization to the Arabidopsis (p-value < 0.01), and rice (p-value < 0.01) arrays. The oil palm microarray data also showed comparable correlation of expression (r² = 0.569, p < 0.01) throughout mesocarp development to transcriptome (RNA sequencing) data, and improved correlation over quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR) (r² = 0.721, p < 0.01) of the same RNA samples. The results confirm the advantage of the custom microarray over commercially available arrays derived from model species. We demonstrate the utility of this custom microarray to gain a better understanding of gene expression patterns in the oil palm mesocarp that may lead to increasing future oil yield.
Sime Darby Technology Centre, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 1st Floor, Block B, UPM-MTDC Technology Centre III, Lebuh Silikon, 43400 Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia. wong.yick.ching@simedarby.com.
Yick Ching
YC
Wong
Sime Darby Technology Centre, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 1st Floor, Block B, UPM-MTDC Technology Centre III, Lebuh Silikon, 43400 Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia. kwong.qi.bin@simedarby.com.
Qi Bin
QB
Kwong
Sime Darby Technology Centre, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 1st Floor, Block B, UPM-MTDC Technology Centre III, Lebuh Silikon, 43400 Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia. lee.heng.leng@simedarby.com.
Heng Leng
HL
Lee
European Bioinformatics Institute, Wellcome Trust Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridge CB10 1SD, UK. ckong@ebi.ac.uk.
Chuang Kee
CK
Ong
School of Biosciences, University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus, Jalan Broga, 43500 Semenyih, Malaysia. sean.mayes@nottingham.ac.uk.
Sean
S
Mayes
Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, National University of Singapore, Lower Kent Ridge Road, Singapore 117543, Singapore. dbscft@nus.edu.sg.
Fook Tim
FT
Chew
Sime Darby Technology Centre, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 1st Floor, Block B, UPM-MTDC Technology Centre III, Lebuh Silikon, 43400 Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia. david.ross.appleton@simedarby.com.
David R
DR
Appleton
Sime Darby Technology Centre, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 1st Floor, Block B, UPM-MTDC Technology Centre III, Lebuh Silikon, 43400 Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia. harikrishna.k@simedarby.com.
Harikrishna
H
Kulaveerasingam
gene expression; mesocarp; microarray; oil palm