María José Truco¹ , Leah K. McHale¹ , Dean O. Lavelle¹ , David G. Caldwell¹ , Jason M. Argyris² , Alex Kozik¹ , Marta Matvienko¹ , Oswaldo E. Ochoa¹ , Smitha Mathrakott¹ , Kent J. Bradford² , Allen VanDeynze² , Richard W. Michelmore¹

¹  UC Davis Genome Center, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, USA

²  Seed Biotechnology Center, Department of Plant Sciences, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, USA

The second phase of the Compositae Genome Project has expanded the number of ESTs sequenced from 18 species in the Compositae to over 500K ESTs. As a result we have extensive collections of ESTs from five Lactuca species: L. sativa cv Salinas (~ 80K), L. serriola (~55K), L. saligna (~30K), L. virosa (~30K) and L. perennis (~30K). Assembly of these sequences has resulted in over 35,000 unigenes for Lactuca spp. These EST sequences have been used in a variety of comparative genomic studies: genetic mapping of ESTs in multiple populations using Illumina multiplex genotyping technology; analysis of the genetic architecture of disease resistance by comparing candidate genes with resistance phenotypes; parallel comparative studies at the sequence level with QTL and phenotypic analyses of flower and leaf development traits and seed dormancy; and, development of a lettuce microarray with over 35,000 unigenes for massively parallel genotyping and expression analysis. The information generated in these studies is publicly available (http://cgpdb.ucdavis.edu/).