Generation and analysis of expressed sequence tags fromthe salt-tolerant eelgrass species, Zostera marina

Zostera marina, a monocotyledonous angiosperm, is one of the most important seagrass species. To investigate the salt-tolerance mechanism and discover salt-tolerant genes in Z. marina, a cDNA library was constructed. Single-pass sequencing of the 5' ends of 4 081 clones yielded 4 002 high quality expressed sequence tags (ESTs), which were assembled into 241 contigs and 1 673 singletons, representing 1 914 unigenes. The average length of the ESTs was 582 bp, with sizes ranging from 100-1 500 bp. Basic Local Alignment Search Tool (BLASTX) analysis revealed that 1 664 unigenes had significant homology to known genes in the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) non-redundant (nr) database (E-valuea (c) 1/25-10). Among them, the two most abundant genes encoded metallothionein (157 ESTs) and chlorophyll a/b-binding protein (38 ESTs), accounting for 7.1% and 1.7% of the total ESTs, respectively. Using Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG), 1 462 unigenes were assigned to 1 161 pathways (E-valuea (c) 1/25-10). A total of 938 unigenes were assigned Gene Ontology (GO) terms based on the GO hierarchy analysis, and InterProScan searches recognized 1 003 InterPro families. Three genes for metallothionein in Z. marina that belonged to Class II was identified. Results of this study will improve understanding of the molecular mechanisms of saline tolerance in Z. marina.