ARS | Publication request: Microarray-Based Analysis of Gene Modulation During Watermelon Fruit Development

Submitted to: HortScience
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: February 25, 2007
Publication Date: June 1, 2007
Citation: Wechter, W.P., Levi, A., Davis, A.R., Fei, Z., Hernandez, A., Thimmapuram, J., Dang, P.M., Katzir, N., Tadmor, K., Giovannoni, J.J. 2007. Microarray-Based Analysis of Gene Modulation During Watermelon Fruit Development. HortScience. 42:447.

Technical Abstract: A cDNA library was constructed from mRNA isolated at three distinct developmental stages (12, 24, and 36 days post pollination) from watermelon flesh of the heirloom cultivar Illiniwake Red. The library was first normalized and then subtracted by hybridization with leaf cDNAs. Random cDNA clones (8,832) of the watermelon-flesh, subtraction library were sequenced from the 5-prime end in order to identify potentially informative genes associated with fruit setting, development, and ripening. The 8,832 expressed sequence tags (ESTs) produced 4,719 non-redundant sequences EST-unigenes. BLAST analysis revealed 1,269 EST-unigenes (~27%) that have no significant homology to sequences published so far for other plant species. The BLAST analysis revealed EST-unigenes associated with metabolism, membrane transport, cell wall formation and cell division, signal transduction, nucleic acid binding and transcription factors, defense and stress response, and secondary metabolism. Microarray analysis for 832 EST-unigenes identified 174 ESTs that are up-regulated and 161 ESTs that are down regulated during fruit development and ripening. This study provides an expanded pool of genes that can be useful targets in future genetic and functional genomic studies of watermelon fruit.