title: De novo transcriptome sequencing and comprehensive analysis of the drought-responsive genes in the desert plant Cynanchum komarovii.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Cynanchum komarovii Al Iljinski is a xerophytic plant species widely distributing in the severely adverse environment of the deserts in northwest China. At present, the detailed transcriptomic and genomic data for C. komarovii are still insufficient in public databases.
  
  
  RESULTS
  To investigate changes of drought-responsive genes and explore the mechanisms of drought tolerance in C. komarovii, approximately 27.5 GB sequencing data were obtained using Illumina sequencing technology. After de novo assembly 148,715 unigenes were generated with an average length of 604 bp. Among these unigenes, 85,106 were annotated with gene descriptions, conserved domains, gene ontology terms, and metabolic pathways. The results showed that a great number of unigenes were significantly affected by drought stress. We identified 3134 unigenes as reliable differentially expressed genes (DEGs). During drought stress, the regulatory genes were involved in signaling transduction pathways and in controlling the expression of functional genes. Moreover, C. komarovii activated many functional genes that directly protected against stress and improved tolerance to adapt drought condition. Importantly, the DEGs were involved in biosynthesis, export, and regulation of plant cuticle, suggesting that plant cuticle may play a vital role in response to drought stress and the accumulation of cuticle may allow C. komarovii to improve the tolerance to drought stress.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This is the first large-scale reference sequence data of C. komarovii, which enlarge the genomic resources of this species. Our comprehensive transcriptome analysis will provide a valuable resource for further investigation into the molecular adaptation of desert plants under drought condition and facilitate the exploration of drought-tolerant candidate genes.
authors.affiliation: College of Science, China Agricultural University, No.2 Yuanmingyuan West Road, Beijing, 100193, China. maxiaowen@cau.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Xiaowen
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.affiliation: College of Science, China Agricultural University, No.2 Yuanmingyuan West Road, Beijing, 100193, China. wangping@cau.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Ping
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: College of Science, China Agricultural University, No.2 Yuanmingyuan West Road, Beijing, 100193, China. bryansihong@163.com.
authors.forename: Sihong
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: College of Science, China Agricultural University, No.2 Yuanmingyuan West Road, Beijing, 100193, China. sunyun.nm@163.com.
authors.forename: Yun
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: College of Science, China Agricultural University, No.2 Yuanmingyuan West Road, Beijing, 100193, China. liunana@cau.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Nana
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: College of Science, China Agricultural University, No.2 Yuanmingyuan West Road, Beijing, 100193, China. lixiaoningtj@163.com.
authors.forename: Xiaoning
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: College of Science, China Agricultural University, No.2 Yuanmingyuan West Road, Beijing, 100193, China. houyuxia@cau.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Yuxia
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Hou
mesh_terms: D000064:Acclimatization; D000222:Adaptation, Physiological / Q000235:genetics*; D002681:China; D031105:Cynanchum / Q000235:genetics* / Q000254:growth & development; D055864:Droughts; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; D018745:Genome, Plant; D059014:High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing; D053858:Metabolic Networks and Pathways / Q000235:genetics; D058977:Molecular Sequence Annotation; D013312:Stress, Physiological / Q000235:genetics; D059467:Transcriptome / Q000235:genetics*