Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2018

Abstract

Moringa oleifera Lam. is well known for its numerous documented properties, particularly its significant applications in nutrition, therapeutics, biocontrol, energy, and bioremediation. These properties are the consequences of the vibrant physiological processes of the plant in the context of the ever-changing biotic and abiotic factors, in which transcription factors play substantial roles. Transcription factors (TFs) are the regulators of gene expression. Transcription factors enable the activation or repression of transcription. Along with the advent of ultrahighthroughput sequencing technologies such as RNA sequencing (RNA-Seq), in combination with bioinformatics techniques, the investigation of the TFs of M. oleifera was made possible. This research aimed to identify transcripts encoding for transcription factors in the mature embryos of Moringa oleifera Lam. through RNAsequencing and de novo transcriptome assembly (SOAP and Trinity assemblies); and determine their gene expression levels. In this study, the cataloguing and functional annotation of highly expressed TFs in M. oleifera were performed. Annotations were made based on BLAST, plant TF databases, TAIR, NCBI, gene2go, KEGG and ATTED-II. Highly expressed transcripts were homologs of A. thaliana. Other putative TFs were homologous to Theobroma cacao. Highly expressed putative TFs from SOAP as well as highly expressed TFs from TriAnn showed involvement in various seed processes. Some of the TFs were associated with non-seed related functions. It is recommended that validation of the functions of these putative M. oleifera transcription factors be performed through quantitative real-time PCR which can quantify the abundance and expression of TF genes in the mature seed embryos of M. oleifera in real time. Validation of genes encoding for TFs using quantitative realtime PCR which is an efficient method for the detection and quantitation of gene expression and can shed light on the functions of the transcription factors encoded by the TF transcripts particularly in their involvement in the many attributes of the seed embryos of M. oleifera such as in the developmental process, production of antioxidants, oil biosynthesis and stress response.

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