CerealESTdb

CerealESTdb provides a curated database of assembled and annotated Expressed Sequence Tags (ESTs) from wheat (Triticum aestivum), rice (Oryza sativa), maize (Zea mays), and sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) generated under abiotic stresses (cold, heat, drought, salt, and abscisic acid) to support molecular analyses of stress-responsive genes and pathways.

Key Features:

• Extensive data collection: Contains 55,826 assembled EST sequences from wheat, rice, maize, and sorghum derived under cold, heat, drought, salt, and abscisic acid (ABA) treatments.
• Predicted gene models and annotations: Includes 51,791 predicted gene models and 254,609 gene ontology (GO) term annotations linked to the ESTs.
• Metabolic pathway information: Links ESTs to 1,746 metabolic pathways to enable exploration of biochemical networks affected by abiotic stress.

Scientific Applications:

• Functional genomics of stress responses: Supports identification and characterization of stress-responsive genes and pathways in major cereal crops using EST-based evidence.
• Molecular breeding for stress resilience: Provides EST and annotation resources to inform molecular breeding programs aimed at developing cereal varieties resilient to abiotic stresses.

Methodology:

Integration and analysis of existing EST resources related to abiotic stresses in major cereals, leveraging Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) technologies such as RNAseq and microarray data.