(Brassicaceae) produces multiple hydroxy fatty acids as major components of the seed oil. We tracked the changes in seed oil composition and gene expression during development, starting 14 days after flowers had been pollinated. Seed oil changes showed initially higher levels of saturated and unsaturated fatty acids (FAs) but little accumulation of hydroxy fatty acids (HFAs).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The Cocoseae is one of 13 tribes of Arecaceae subfam. Arecoideae, and contains a number of palms with significant economic importance, including the monotypic and pantropical Cocos nucifera L., the coconut, the origins of which have been one of the "abominable mysteries" of palm systematics for decades.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFor well-studied plant species with whole genome sequence or extensive EST data, SNP markers are the logical choice for both genotyping and whole genome association studies. However, SNP markers may not address the needs of researchers working on specialty crops with limited available genomic information. Microsatellite markers have been frequently employed due to their robustness, but marker development can be difficult and may result in few polymorphic markers.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe WRKY gene family of transcription factors is involved in several diverse pathways and includes components of plant-specific, ancient regulatory networks. WRKY genes contain one or two highly conserved DNA binding domains interrupted by an intron. We used partial sequences of five independent WRKY loci to assess their potential for phylogeny reconstruction.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe investigated the reliability of capillary array electrophoresis-single strand conformation polymorphism (CAE-SSCP) to determine if it can be used to identify novel alleles of candidate genes in a germplasm collection. Both strands of three different size fragments (160, 245 and 437 bp) that differed by one or more nucleotides in sequence were analyzed at four different temperatures (18 degrees C, 25 degrees C, 30 degrees C, and 35 degrees C). Mixtures of amplified fragments of either the intron interrupting the C-terminal WRKY domain of the Tc10 locus or the NBS domain of the TcRGH1 locus of Theobroma cacao were electroinjected into all 16 capillaries of an ABI 3100 Genetic Analyzer and analyzed three times at each temperature.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThere is currently an international effort in improving disease resistance and crop yield in Theobroma cacao L., an economically important crop of the tropics, using marker-assisted selection for breeding. We are developing molecular genetic markers focusing upon gene families involved with disease resistance.
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