Identification and characterization of candidate single copy genes in sugarcane

Abstract

The advent of the new sequencing technologies allowed the dissemination of large-scale expression and genotyping analysis techniques and, consequently, much research in this area is being made, with sugarcane being no different. However, duplicate genes are a major challenge in the analysis and interpretation of the results since it makes it difficult to distinguish between locus alleles of interest and their copies. Thus, identifying single-copy candidate genes (genes from non-duplicated loci) is of utmost importance for the development of markers applied to the construction of genetic maps and gene expression analyzes. Therefore, the objective of the project is to identify and make functional annotation of possible single-copy genes in commercial sugarcane varieties (SP80-3280 and IACSP93-3046). The genomes of rice, maize and sorghum will be used to identify single copy genes shared between these genomes, which will serve as reference in the search for possible non-duplicated genes in sugarcane. It is expected to identify single copy candidate genes that are useful for future gene expression work and the construction of genetic maps, and that the functional analysis of the genes allows a greater understanding of the importance and reason for these genes to remain in this condition. (AU)