ARS | Publication request: EST mining for structure and expression of genes in the region of the wheat high-molecular-weight glutenin loci

Submitted to: Genome
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: April 27, 2009
Publication Date: August 3, 2009
Citation: Anderson, O.D. 2009. EST mining for structure and expression of genes in the region of the wheat high-molecular-weight glutenin loci . Genome. 52:1-15.

Interpretive Summary: The high-molecular-weight glutenins (HMW) are wheat seed proteins and are mainly responsible for the visco-elastic properties that allow wheat doughs to be made into a wide range of food products such as breads, cakes, cookies, pasta, and as an ingredient in many processed foods. An analysis was made of available DNA sequences for both the HMW-glutenins and adjacent genes in the wheat genome. Results give insight into the structure of several previously unreported HMW-glutenins and further information on standard versions of these genes used in laboratory and field studies. In addition, the activity of these genes was compared and found that some differences in relative gene activity may contribute to wheat quality characteristics.

Technical Abstract: Databases have become an integral part of all aspects of biological research, including basic and applied plant biology. The importance of databases continues to increase as the volume of data from direct and indirect genomics approaches expands. What is not always obvious to users of databases is the range of available database resources, their access points, or some basic elements of database querying. This chapter briefly summarizes the history of data access via the Internet and reviews some basic terms and considerations in dealing with plant and crop databases. The reader is directed to some of the major publicly available Internet-accessible relevant databases with summaries of the major focuses of those databases, and several examples are given to illustrate how to access plant genomics data. Finally, an outline is given of some of the issues facing the future of plant and crop databases.