Genome-wide analysis reveals divergent patterns of gene expression during zygotic and somatic embryo maturation of Theobroma cacao L., the chocolate tree.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Theobroma cacao L. is a tropical fruit tree, the seeds of which are used to create chocolate. In vitro somatic embryogenesis (SE) of cacao is a propagation system useful for rapid mass-multiplication to accelerate breeding programs and to provide plants directly to farmers. Two major limitations of cacao SE remain: the efficiency of embryo production is highly genotype dependent and the lack of full cotyledon development results in low embryo to plant conversion rates. With the goal to better understand SE development and to improve the efficiency of SE conversion we examined gene expression differences between zygotic and somatic embryos using a whole genome microarray.

Results

The expression of 28,752 genes was determined at 4 developmental time points during zy

SUBMITTER: Maximova SN 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4110631 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature