The potato tuber transcriptome: analysis of 6077 expressed sequence tags

This is the first report of the biosynthetic potential of a tuber storage o rgan investigated by expressed sequence tag sequencing. A cDNA library was generated from the mature tuber of field grown potato (Solanum tuberosum va r. Kuras). Partial sequences obtained from 6077 clones were assembled into 828 clusters and 1533 singletons. The average read length was 592 bp, and 2 254 clones were full length. 5717 clones showed homology to genes from othe r organisms. Genes involved in protein synthesis, protein destination and c ell defense predominated in tuber compared to stolon, shoot and leaf organs . 1063 clones were unique to tuber. Transcripts of starch metabolizing enzy mes showed similar relative levels in tuber and stolon. (C) 2001 Federation of European Biochemical Societies. Published by Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.