Functional Genomics-Assisted Development of Gene Markers for Economically Important Traits in Rubber Production Varietal Improvement

Functional genomics involves studies on how genes and intergenic regions of the genome contribute to different biological processes. This is translated to the development of gene-associated molecular markers for utility in rubber production and breeding. Through functional genomics and bioinformatics, gene markers were generated using two approaches: a) genome filtering using methylation-sensitive restriction enzymes and b) gene mining from rubber genome sequence databases. The program aims to sequence gene-specific regions in rubber using NGS technology in constructing an exome database for at least two genotypes with extreme phenotypes, search for gene-specific markers from the exome database using bioinformatics tools, design PCR primers from gene-specific markers, and validate PCR primers for possible trait association.