ESTs as a Resource for Gene Discovery and Population Genetic Analysis of Crop Plants

In the advent of the genomic era, it has resulted in the vast production of publicly available DNA sequence data, including large collections of expressed sequence tags (ESTs) from a variety of different taxa. ESTs can be useful for gene identification, and with the involvement of in silico methodologies and the pathway-based analyses help to elucidate the biological functions and interactions of genes. ESTs encoding putative transcription factors (TFs) were identified by sequence comparison to known TF gene families of crop plants in the Plant Transcription Factor Database. Comparative mapping analysis of ESTs with other crops genome could reveal the phylogenetic relationships of several important genes. The utilization of these ESTs with computational studies will increase the understanding of genetic basis of the crop plants. Then the molecular markers based on ESTs such as EST-SSR, EST-SNPs providing the good source for the population genetics studies and useful for the marker-assisted breeding. These studies will make a great impact in crop improvement programs and keep the global food security.