Generation, annotation, and analysis of ESTs from four different Trichoderma strains grown under conditions related to biocontrol

The functional genomics project "TrichoEST" was developed focused on different taxonomic groups of Trichoderma with biocontrol potential. Four cDNA libraries were constructed, using similar growth conditions, from four different Trichoderma strains: Trichoderma longibrachiatum T52, Trichoderma asperellum T53, Trichoderma virens T59, and Trichoderma sp. T78. In this study, we present the analysis of the 8,160 expressed sequence tags (ESTs) generated. Each EST library was independently assembled and 1,000-1,300 unique sequences were identified in each strain. First, we queried our collection of ESTs against the NCBI nonredundant database using the BLASTX algorithm. Moreover, using the Gene Ontology hierarchy, we performed the annotation of 40.9% of the unique sequences. Later, based on the EST abundance, we examined the highly expressed genes in the four strains. A hydrophobin was found as the gene expressed at the highest level in two of the strains, but we also found that other unique sequences similar to the HEX1, QID3, and NMT1 proteins were highly represented in at least two of the Trichoderma strains.