The Lotus japonicus Genome

22.10 Full-Length cDNAs

Full-length cDNAs are useful resources for the
functional analysis of genes or proteins and are
available for several plants, such asArabidopsis
(Seki et al. 1998 ), rice (Kikuchi et al. 2003 ),
wheat (Ogihara et al. 2004 ), soybean (Umezawa
et al. 2008 ), maize (Zea mays) (Soderlund et al.
2009 ), tomato (Aoki et al. 2010 ), and barley
(Matsumoto et al. 2011 ).L. japonicusfull-length
cDNAs were developed at the Kazusa DNA
Research Institute and have been deposited with
“LegumeBase”(Table22.1). There are approxi-
mately 100,000L. japonicuscDNA clones from
a full-length-enriched cDNA library, including
3,874 full-read sequences that were derived from
plants and roots, as well as from in vitro-cultured
cells ofL. japonicusthat were cultured under
diverse chemical treatment conditions (Sakurai
et al. unpublished).

22.11 Binary Vectors

Promoter analysis studies have demonstrated that
the polyubiquitin promoter fromL. japonicus
plants (Ljubq1) possesses higher activity than the
CaMV35S promoter in L. japonicus leaves,
stems, roots, nodules, and pollen (Maekawa et al.

2008 ). The GATEWAY conversion technology-

compatible binary vectors that were constructed

for overexpression and RNAi under the control

of the Ljubq1 promoter provide alternative

choices for studies inL. japonicus(Fig.22.6).

The six kinds of vectors deposited by M. Hayashi

are now available in LegumeBase. For one of

these vectors, Nakagawa et al. ( 2011 ) investi-

gated the expression profiles of the Nod factor

(NFs) receptor gene in roots ofL. japonicus

through a complementation test usingAgrobac-

terium rhizogenes-mediated transgenicL. japo-

nicuswith pUB-GW-GFP as shown in Fig.22.6.

22.12 Mesorhizobium lotiSTM

Mutants

The mutant library ofMesorhizobium lotiwas

developed by the Kazusa DNA Research Insti-

tute through transposon mutagenesis. These

transposon insertion mutants were generated

using the signature-tagged mutagenesis (STM)

technique (Shimoda et al. 2008 ). At present,

6,671 STMM. lotimutants are available from

“LegumeBase”(Table22.1). Detailed informa-

tion aboutM. lotiORFs, such as the operon

structure, predicted protein domains and orthol-

ogous protein groups, is available at RhizoBase

(http://bacteria.kazusa.or.jp/rhizobase/

Table 22.2 NBRPLotusandGlycinerelated Web sites and databases

Name of database Contents URL

LegumeBase NBRPLotusandGlycinemain page http://www.legumebase.brc.miyazaki-u.ac.

jp/

Lotus japonicusdatabase NBRP Database forL. japonicus http://www.legumebase.brc.miyazaki-u.ac.

jp/lotus/

NBRP information site NBRP Web site http://www.nbrp.jp/

BioResource World: BRW An integrated NBRP database

retrieval system

http://resourcedb.nbrp.jp/top.jsp

Worldwide Legume science

information desk

Social bookmark site for legume-

related Web pages

http://www.shigen.nig.ac.jp/infodesk/

topSpeciesAction.do?speciesId=4

Research resource

circulationlotus/glycine

Database of publications related to

the NBRP resources

http://www.shigen.nig.ac.jp/rrc/

gatewayAction.do?speciesId=17

miyakogusa.jp Lotus japonicusgenome database http://www.kazusa.or.jp/lotus/

Lotus japonicusEST Index Lotus japonicusEST database http://est.kazusa.or.jp/en/plant/lotus/EST/

RhizoBase Genetic information of ORFs for 39

strains of rhizobacteria

http://genome.microbedb.jp/rhizobase/

22 The National BioResource Project in Japan 253