Vaccinium corymbosum Transcriptome or Gene expression

There has been increased demand for and consumption of blueberries in recent years, because of their many recognized health benefits. Blueberry fruit is very high in anthocyanins, which have been linked to improved night vision, prevention of macular degeneration, anti-cancer activity, and reduced risk of heart disease. The availability of genomic tools could lead to more rapid genetic improvement of blueberry, such as combining traits for climatic adaptation with other important traits like fruit and nutritional quality. Recent efforts to sequence expressed genes (the transcriptome) of highbush blueberry, use the sequences to identify genes associated with cold acclimation and fruit development, and use the sequences in construction of a diploid genetic linkage map are presented here. Transcriptome sequences were generated from blueberry fruit at different stages of development, flower buds at different stages of cold acclimation, and leaves by next generation 454 sequencing. Over 1.3 million reads were generated and assembled into approximately 15,000 contigs and 124,000 singletons. The contigs were annotated and functionally mapped to Gene Ontology (GO) terms. Frequency of the most abundant sequences in each of the libraries was compared across all libraries to identify genes that are potentially differentially expressed during cold acclimation and fruit development. Real-time PCR was performed to confirm their differential expression patterns. PCR-based markers derived from the ESTs (EST-PCR and SSR markers) were developed and added to a genetic linkage map of diploid blueberry. These sequences constitute an important genomic tool for the scientific community, particularly to those interested in discovering genes involved in cold acclimation and fruit development in temperate-zone woody perennials like blueberry and its relatives.