In silico gene expression analysis in Codonopsis lanceolata root.

Expressed sequence tags (ESTs) provide valuable tools that can be used to predict the genes involved in primary and secondary metabolite synthesis. To the best of our knowledge, ESTs have not yet been developed for Codonopsis. lanceolata, and therefore, the EST referenced in this report is the first transcript for C. lanceolata. A cDNA library was constructed using the roots of C. lanceolata plants that were grown in a field. The selected 881 cDNA clones were sequenced and processed with an EST pipeline, resulting in 636 unique sequences, including 517 singletons and 119 contig sequences. Using bioinformatics tools, 81% of the EST sequence was putatively annotated. Data for unique transcripts were mined from biological databases and functionally classified using gene ontology (GO), the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes Orthology, KEGG pathway maps, and protein family. The GO-based analyses were examined in terms of biotic and abiotic stress response, transport, cellular component organization, biogenesis, and secondary metabolic processes. The KEGG-based analyses of most transcripts were sorted by carbohydrate metabolism, energy metabolism, and biosynthesis of secondary metabolites. Five randomly-selected putative genes were used for an expression study using various stresses such as salt, H(2)O(2), salicylic acid, and methyl jasmonic acid. Mined data were organized in "The Codonopsis EST Database" (www.bioherbs.khu.ac.kr/Codonopsis).