ARS | Publication request: Peanut (Arachis hypogaea) expressed sequence tag (EST) project: Progress and application.

Submitted to: Comparative and Functional Genomics
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: April 26, 2012
Publication Date: June 11, 2012
Citation: Feng, S., Wang, X., Zhang, X., Dang, P.M., Holbrook Jr, C.C., Culbreath, A.K., Yaoting, W., Guo, B. 2012. Peanut (Arachis hypogaea) expressed sequence tag (EST) project: Progress and application. Comparative and Functional Genomics. 2012:373768, 9 p.

Interpretive Summary: Peanut is one of the major economically-important legumes, and is widely grown in the Southern United States, and countries like China, India, and in South and Central America and Africa. On a global basis, peanut is a major source of protein and vegetable oil for human nutrition. Peanut production also has a significant role in sustainable agriculture in terms of global food security and nutrition, fuel and energy, sustainable fertilization, and enhanced agricultural productivity as a rotation crop. Genomic research can provide new tools and resources to revolutionarily enhance crop genetic improvement and production. The US peanut research community had the historic 2004 Atlanta Genomics Workshop and named the expressed sequence tag (EST) project as a main priority. As of August 2011, the peanut research community had deposited 252,832 ESTs in the public NCBI EST database, and this resource has been providing the community valuable tools and core foundations for various genome-scale experiments before beginning the whole genome sequencing project. These EST resources have been used for marker development, gene cloning, microarray gene expression and genetic map construction. Certainly, the peanut EST sequence resources have been shown to have a wide range of applications and accomplished its essential role at the time of need. Then the EST project contributes to the second historic event, the Peanut Genome Project 2010 Inaugural Meeting also held in Atlanta where it was decided to sequence the entire peanut genome. EST sequencing certainly played a key role during the pre-era to whole genome sequencing. After the completion of peanut whole genome sequencing, ESTs or transcriptome will continue to play an important role to fill in knowledge gaps, to identify particular genes and to explore gene function. Technical Abstract Millions of expressed sequence tag (EST) sequences from several hundred plant species have been deposited in public EST databases. Many plant ESTs have been sequenced as an alternative to whole genome sequences, including peanut because of the genome size and complexity. The US peanut research community had the historic 2004 Atlanta Genomics Workshop and named the EST project as a main priority. As of August 2011, the peanut research community had deposited 252,832 ESTs in the public NCBI EST database, and this resource has been providing the community valuable tools and core foundations for various genome-scale experiments before beginning the whole genome sequencing project. These EST resources have been used for marker development, gene cloning, microarray gene expression and genetic map construction. Certainly, the peanut EST sequence resources have been shown to have a wide range of applications and accomplished its essential role at the time of need. Then the EST project contributes to the second historic event, the Peanut Genome Project 2010 Inaugural Meeting also held in Atlanta where it was decided to sequence the entire peanut genome. EST sequencing certainly played a key role during the pre-era to whole genome sequencing. After the completion of peanut whole genome sequencing, ESTs or transcriptome will continue to play an important role to fill in knowledge gaps, to identify particular genes and to explore gene function.

Technical Abstract: Millions of expressed sequence tag (EST) sequences from several hundred plant species have been deposited in public EST databases. Many plant ESTs have been sequenced as an alternative to whole genome sequences, including peanut because of the genome size and complexity. The US peanut research community had the historic 2004 Atlanta Genomics Workshop and named the EST project as a main priority. As of August 2011, the peanut research community had deposited 252,832 ESTs in the public NCBI EST database, and this resource has been providing the community valuable tools and core foundations for various genome-scale experiments before beginning the whole genome sequencing project. These EST resources have been used for marker development, gene cloning, microarray gene expression and genetic map construction. Certainly, the peanut EST sequence resources have been shown to have a wide range of applications and accomplished its essential role at the time of need. Then the EST project contributes to the second historic event, the Peanut Genome Project 2010 Inaugural Meeting also held in Atlanta where it was decided to sequence the entire peanut genome. EST sequencing certainly played a key role during the pre-era to whole genome sequencing. After the completion of peanut whole genome sequencing, ESTs or transcriptome will continue to play an important role to fill in knowledge gaps, to identify particular genes and to explore gene function.