Husin Nurul Arneida, Rahman Sadequr, Karunakaran Rohini, Bhore Subhash Janardhan
Department of Biotechnology, Faculty of Applied Sciences, AIMST University, Semeling 08100 Bedong, Kedah, Malaysia.
School of Science and Tropical Medicine and Biology Platform, Monash University Malaysia, Jalan Lagoon Selatan, 47500, Sunway City, Selangor, Malaysia.
Bioinformation. 2018 Jun 30;14(6):265-270. doi: 10.6026/97320630014265. eCollection 2018.
Durian (Durio zibethinus L.; Family Bombacaceae) is an iconic tropical fruit plant cultivated in Malaysia and the Southeast Asian countries. In Malaysia, durian is recognised as the King of fruits and well known as a rich source of volatile sulphur compounds that make it unique. Fruit pulp of this fruit is an excellent source of nutrients as it contains proteins, dietary fat, fibers, and carbohydrates. Durian leaf and root decoctions are known to have a febrifuge and anti-malarial properties. The understanding of this plant's molecular biology will help breeders to develop a strategy for its further improvements. Hence, there is a need to identify and understand the genes necessary for the quality improvement of the durian fruits. Its genome contains about 46,000 genes which is almost double that of humans (Homo sapiens). The understanding of durian genes will be useful not only in the molecular breeding but also in the microbial production of novel proteins and or enzymes. This review highlights nutritional and medicinal attributes of durian. The molecular studies including the importance of undertaking transcriptomics work and the insights from the most recently reported genome draft are also highlighted.
榴莲（Durio zibethinus L.；木棉科）是一种标志性的热带水果植物，在马来西亚和东南亚国家均有种植。在马来西亚，榴莲被视为水果之王，因其富含挥发性硫化合物而闻名遐迩，独具特色。这种水果的果肉是优质的营养来源，含有蛋白质、膳食脂肪、纤维和碳水化合物。已知榴莲叶和根的煎剂具有退热和抗疟疾特性。对这种植物分子生物学的了解将有助于育种者制定进一步改良的策略。因此，有必要鉴定和了解提高榴莲果实品质所需的基因。其基因组包含约46000个基因，几乎是人类（智人）基因组的两倍。对榴莲基因的了解不仅在分子育种中有用，在新型蛋白质和/或酶的微生物生产中也很有用。本综述重点介绍了榴莲的营养和药用特性。还强调了分子研究，包括开展转录组学工作的重要性以及最近报道的基因组草图所提供的见解。
