Mining the bitter melon (momordica charantia l.) seed transcriptome by 454 analysis of non-normalized and normalized cDNA populations for conjugated fatty acid metabolism-related genes.

Background Seeds of Momordica charantia (bitter melon) produce high levels of eleostearic acid, an unusual conjugated fatty acid with industrial value. Deep sequencing of non-normalized and normalized cDNAs from developing bitter melon seeds was conducted to uncover key genes required for biotechnological transfer of conjugated fatty acid production to existing oilseed crops. It is expected that these studies will also provide basic information regarding the metabolism of other high-value novel fatty acids.