Tartary buckwheat database (TBD): an integrative platform for gene analysis of and biological information on Tartary buckwheat

Abstract

Rice, wheat, corn, and potatoes are four crops that provide a daily source of nutrition for humans, but there are many problems that have been found with these crops. First, they lack amino acids and minerals which are necessary for balanced nutrition, and they also are grown very widely and as monocultures, which increases the risk of the human food system being destroyed by climate change. Thus, by introducing coarse cereals with good characteristics, we can enrich human food resources, realize agricultural diversification, improve dietary structure, and mitigate risks. Tartary buckwheat (Fagopyrum tataricum) is a widely cultivated edible and medicinal crop with unique nutritional and excellent economic value. It contains flavonoids, such as rutin and quercetin, which are not found in cereal crops. Rutin is a major flavonoid that can enhance blood flow and aid in the use of vitamin C and the production of collagen. In addition, such antioxidants have been shown to effectively reduce cholesterol levels, blood clots, and hypertension, particularly for the prevention of inflammatory liver injury (Middleton et al., 2000; Lee et al., 2013; Suzuki et al., 2014; Huang et al., 2016; Nishimura et al., 2016). Meanwhile, Tartary buckwheat can tolerate poor climate and acidic soils containing high amounts of aluminum, which is toxic to other crops (Wang et al., 2015). The self-pollination of Tartary buckwheat has resulted in a decrease in genomic heterozygosity, which is valuable for breeding and a stable production trait (Wang and Campbell, 2007). Therefore, Tartary buckwheat is an important minor crop, which is expected to become the target of many breeding efforts in the future.

Fig. 1. Summary and functions of Tartary buckwheat database (TBD). (a) Home page of TBD; (b) Summary of gene expression in five Tartary buckwheat organs in TBD and statistics on the numbers of genes expressed in different tissues and different fruit development stages; (c) An example entry of FtPinG0000001800.01 in gene expression value (GEV); (d) Transcription factor (TF) page of TBD; (e) An example entry of the growth-regulating factor (GRF) family in TF; (f) An example entry of FtPinG0000001800.01 in quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) primer (qPrimer).

Fig. 2. Data and feature diagram of Tartary buckwheat database (TBD). TBD incorporates the biological information, quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR), and transcriptomic data for Tartary buckwheat. All the data are manually curated and integrated. Various tools are embedded in the webpage to retrieve and analyze the data.