Abstract Rubber (cis-1, 4-polyisoprene), an important raw material for many industrial uses,
is synthesized in the latex of Hevea brasiliensis (Willd. ex A. Juss.) Müll. Arg. We postulated
that the genes uniquely or preferentially expressed in the latex may be important for rubber
biosynthesis. We constructed cDNA libraries from the latex of H. brasiliensis to investigate
the genes expressed in the latex by single-run partial sequencing of the cDNA clones.
Sequence analyses identified 245 expressed sequence tags (ESTs), of which 57% showed …

The latex of H. brasiliensis was used to construct cDNA libraries to investigate the genes
expressed in the latex by single-run partial sequencing of the cDNA clones. Sequence
analyses identified 245 expressed sequence tags (ESTs), of which 57% showed homology
to previously described sequences in public databases. About 16% of the database-
matched ESTs encoded rubber biosynthesis-related proteins such as rubber elongation
factor (REF) and small rubber particle protein (SRPP). The second most frequent transcripts …