Reconstructing the Oil Biosynthesis Pathways of the Mature Seed Embryo of Moringa oleifera Lam. Using Direct RNA-Seq

         Moringa oleifera Lam.  seeds are capable of producing 40% edible oils that are gaining importance due to its superior stability and nutritional benefits.      Many studies have examined Moringa oleifera seed oil, however, these studies focused on the extraction of oil and methods of biodiesel production.  There is a dearth of information on transcriptome level studies to determine the unigenes involved in oil biosynthesis metabolic pathways which could possibly be used to improve  seed yield and oil content of M. oleifera.   In this study, we described RNA-sequencing and de novo sequence assembly to generate the first comprehensive transcriptome resource for M. oleifera mature seed embryo and identify the pathways and key genes related to oil biosynthesis.   Total RNA was isolated from thirty mature  seed embryos obtained from 10 trees in Muñoz, Nueva Ecija, Philippines.   Equal quantities of RNA  were pooled to construct a cDNA library for de novo sequence assembly.     A total of 182,589 transcripts were generated in this study.    We identified  36%  unigenes involved in oil biosynthesis.  Specifically, there are 284 unigenes  involved in de novo fatty  acid (FA) and  triacylglycerol (TAG) biosynthesis and metabolism, as well as 16 transcription factors related to oil biosynthesis.  These unigenes are unmatched in protein databases for M. oleifera.   RNA-Seq provided a cost-effective and comprehensive  means of transcriptome level information for M. oleifera.  This transcriptome represents a novel functional genomics resource and a baseline  information for  further analyses on the metabolic engineering of M. oleiferato probably boost oil content and modulate oil composition.