Moso bamboo (Phyllostachys heterocycla cv. pubescens) is one of the world’s most important bamboo species. Although several genomes have been sequenced or are being sequenced in the grasses family, we know little about the genome of the bambusoids (bamboos). Full-length complementary DNA (FL-cDNA) clones are important for gene functional analyses, gene annotation and determination of transcriptional start sites, so they serve as a data resource for the genomics. The Moso bamboo FL-cDNA database (lzhang) represents the third largest full length cDNA collection to date of all plant species, and provides the first insight into the gene and genome structures of this tetraploid plant.

The lzhang is developed by Chinese Academy of Forestry, the National Center for Gene Research of Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the International Network for Bamboo and Rattan in China. The database is maintained by the National Center for Gene Research. Currently, it contains the information of approximate 10,608 low redundant full-length cDNA sequences and 38,000 5'-end ESTs from leaf, shoot, and seedling libraries. The database provides a series of information, including sequences, protein domain annotation, similarity search outputs, and gene functional ontologies. We hope these resources greatly encourage the progress of bamboo research.

Web links to some valuable sites: