Characterization of Thioesterase Gene in Sesamum Indicum Using Bioinformatics Tools

Thioesterases play a central role in determining chain lengths of fatty acids in oil storage tissues and have been isolated from a number of plant sources. TEs can be classified into two evolutionarily related families, namely FatA and FatB, with distinct substrate selectivity. With the help of bioinformatics tools alignment was done among the selected thioesterase genes from related oilseed crops. Degenerate primers were designed by manual, codehop and webprimer methods for the conserved regions. Gradient PCR with designed primers showed amplification with manual and codehop primers in sesamum DNA. Amplified DNA is transformed and plasmids are sequenced. Sequences are searched for homology with BLAST. The homology at the amino acid level for thioesterase sequences was observed to be with Helianthus annuus than with the other oil seed crops compared.