Identification of Gene Modules Associated with Low Temperatures Response in Bambara Groundnut by Network-Based Analysis

Bambara groundnut (Vigna subterranea (L.) Verdc.) is an African legume and is a promising underutilized crop with good seed nutritional values. Low temperature stress in a number of African countries at night, such as Botswana, can effect the growth and development of bambara groundnut, leading to losses in potential crop yield. Therefore, in this study we developed a computational pipeline to identify and analyze the genes and gene modules associated with low temperature stress responses in bambara groundnut using the cross-species microarray technique (as bambara groundnut has no microarray chip) coupled with network-based analysis. Analyses of the bambara groundnut transcriptome using cross-species gene expression data resulted in the identification of 375 and 659 differentially expressed genes (p

班巴拉花生（Bambara groundnut，Vigna subterranea (L.) Verdc.）是一种非洲豆科植物，亦是极具开发潜力的未充分利用作物，其种子营养价值优异。非洲多国夜间易出现低温胁迫，例如博茨瓦纳，此类胁迫会影响班巴拉花生的生长发育，进而造成作物潜在产量损失。为此，本研究开发了一套计算流程：鉴于班巴拉花生尚无专属微阵列芯片，故借助跨物种微阵列（microarray）技术结合基于网络的分析方法，对班巴拉花生响应低温胁迫的基因及基因模块开展鉴定与分析工作。利用跨物种基因表达数据对班巴拉花生转录组（transcriptome）进行分析后，共鉴定出375个与659个差异表达基因（differentially expressed genes）（p