Identification of EST derived microsatellite markers for heat stress tolerance in Solanum melongena by in silico methods

Abstract

The extreme environmental conditions disturbs plant growth and development, restricting the genetic potential and yield losses in plants. It is necessary to understand plant responses to stresses that disturbs the homeostatic equilibrium. Newer genes and markers need to be identified to make heat stress tolerant crops and comparative studies in ancestral plant groups can help to understand the complex biological processes. The plants cope with adverse temperature conditions by regulating various mechanism and sustains high temperature stress by producing heat shock proteins (HSPs) and innate immunity and abiotic stress tolerance in higher plants. In this context, in silico methods were used to discover new EST derived microsatellite markers associated with heat stress tolerance in Solanum melongena for plant breeding programme as they are directly linked to functional genes. The publically available EST collection of S. melongena were explored to identify EST linked markers associated with heat tolerance. Approximately 529 EST sequences having repeats were analyzed for stress tolerance using insilico methods. These were categorized into 11 different protein superfamilies implicated in stress tolerance based on conserved domain and protein functions. Among these, five unique EST sequences pertains to HSP90 superfamily associated with heat stress tolerance were found having a microsatellite marker. These are potential markers useful for marker assisted selection in breeding programs and also facilitate the targeted research for development of heat stress tolerant crops.