Tropaeolum majus Transcriptome or Gene expression

As the fruits of Tropaeolum majus (nasturtium) mature massive amounts of xyloglucan are deposited as a storage polymer in the cotyledons. Other storage polymers are also produced in significant amounts such as storage lipids, storage protein and starch. The developing nasturtium cotyledon is therefore an excellent system for the study of the seed filling process and in particular xyloglucan biosynthesis and xyloglucan deposition in the cell wall. To assess the entire biosynthetic pathways for these carbon storage polymers we applied the strategy of massive parallel EST sequencing at later stages of cotyledon development. Our goal is to identify key biosynthetic or regulatory elements allowing increased carbon flux through the pathways leading to higher yielding biomass crops.