Natarajan et al. BMC Genomics 2010, 11:606 http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2164/11/606 Page 5 of 14 Table 2 List of abundant ESTs from the normalized cDNA library of Jatropha curcas L No. of ESTs Annotation Percentage* 23 20 20 18 18 18 18 16 16 16 15 15 15 15 14 14 14 14 14 13 13 13 13 13 13 12 12 12 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 Phosphoethanolamine N-methyltransferase Conserved hypothetical protein Phosphoric diester hydrolase Disease resistance protein RPM1 Protein disulfide isomerase Indole-3-acetic acid-amido synthetase GH3.3 Hypothetical protein Hypothetical protein Receptor protein kinase Branched-chain amino acid aminotransferase Copine 5-AMP-activated protein kinase ATP binding protein Vacuolar Ca2+/H+ exchanger AMSH UDP-glucosyltransferase UDP-glucuronate 5-epimerase ccr4-associated factor Conserved hypothetical protein 5-methyltetrahydropteroyltriglutamate-homocysteine S-methyltransferase RNA recognition motif (RRM)-containing protein Serine/threonine-protein kinase ASK1 SEC14 cytosolic factor family protein Conserved hypothetical protein Threonyl-tRNA synthetase Sugar transporter ARMADILLO REPEAT ONLY 1(ARO1) Cytochrome P450 DELLA protein Sucrose synthase Transferase Bifunctional dihydrofolate reductase-thymidylate synthase Ethylene-responsive transcription factor Calcineurin B Beta-alanine-pyruvate aminotransferase Poly(A)-binding protein Metallothionein 0.33 0.28 0.28 0.26 0.26 0.26 0.26 0.23 0.23 0.23 0.21 0.21 0.21 0.21 0.20 0.20 0.20 0.20 0.20 0.19 0.19 0.19 0.19 0.19 0.19 0.17 0.17 0.17 0.16 0.16 0.16 0.16 0.16 0.16 0.16 0.16 0.16 Contig ID Contig 1 Contig 2 Contig 3 Contig 4 Contig 5 Contig 6 Contig 7 Contig 8 Contig 9 Contig 10 Contig 11 Contig 12 Contig 13 Contig 14 Contig 15 Contig 16 Contig 17 Contig 18 Contig 19 Contig 20 Contig 21 Contig 22 Contig 23 Contig 24 Contig 25 Contig 26 Contig 27 Contig 28 Contig 29 Contig 30 Contig 31 Contig 32 Contig 33 Contig 34 Contig 35 Contig 36 Contig 37 * calculated as percentage of 7009 unigenes. cloned in plant expression vector for functional evalua- tion in arabidopsis and tobacco. The unigene collection also contained genes for acyl-CoA oxidase, enoyl-CoA hydratase, b-hydroxyl acyl-CoA dehydrogenase and acyl-CoA acetyl transferase which are involved in b-oxi- dation of fatty acids and their derivatives. Many of the mutant studies revealed the importance of these enzymes in the breakdown of reserve triacylglycerol, seed development, seed germination, vegetative and reproductive growth phases [42]. Hence the cloning of the genes for beta oxidation pathway will be a valuable source for the genetic manipulation of oil degradation and plant growth. Genes for crop improvement Jatropha is a non-edible plant proposed to be grown in areas not suitable for agriculture such as wasteland, sides of railway track, lands with severe water scarcity, saline areas etc. Hence jatropha should be able to with- stand these stresses. Plants respond to these stresses by modulating gene expression, which restores the cellular homeostasis, detoxification and recovery of growth [43,44]. For example, overexpression of betaine aldehyde dehydrogenase gene conferred salt stress tolerance in carrot, maize and tomato [45-47] and Zhang et al. [48] showed that glycine betaine level is increased under drought, heat and salt stresses in jatropha also.