Helianthus Transcriptome or Gene expression
Study goals and relevance: We sequenced transcriptomes of one individual from each of 3-28 populations of annual Helianthus species native to South Texas (H. annuus ssp. texanus, H. argophyllus, H. debilis ssp. cucumerifolius, and H. praecox ssp. runyonii). The transcriptomes were either from whole above-ground seedling tissue or young leaves from budding or flowering plants (most H. argophyllus samples). We used these data to understand population structure, divergence, and gene flow among these closely related species in this region. Our analysis has implications for the understanding of speciation and secondary contact after divergence.