Sequencing and analysis of full-length transcriptome from Liquidambar formosana leaves in discoloration stage

Abstract

Liquidambar formosana is an excellent landscape ecological tree species because its beautiful tree shape and red or orange leaves in autumn. In order to understand the genetic basis of discoloration and secondary metabolism of L. formosana leaves, the mixed samples of L. formosana leaves in five leaf discoloration stages were used for full-length transcriptome sequencing using single-molecule real-time sequencing technology (PacBio platform). The results were as follows: (1) High-quality 41.04 Gb data were obtained by full-length transcriptome sequencing, from which 563 180 full-length non-chimeric sequences were identified, and 27 269 high-quality full-length transcripts were obtained by clustering and de-redundancy. In 27 269 full-length transcripts, 2 035 long-chain non-coding RNA (lncRNA) were predicted, and 14 892 simple sequence repeat (SSR) sites and 1 856 transcription factors were detected. (2) The results of gene annotation showed that a total of 24 857 transcripts were annotated in eight databases such as NR, GO, COG and KEGG, etc., 124 metabolic pathways were obtained in KEGG database, including ribosome, carbon metabolism, amino acid biosynthesis and so on, and 49 and 71 transcripts were involved in flavonoid and chlorophyll metabolism respectively. The above results preliminarily reveal the transcriptome information and functional characteristics of L. formosana leaves during the leaf discoloration stage, and provide basic data for the follow-up study of the molecular mechanism of leaf discoloration, the pathway and regulation of pigment metabolism and synthesis, the cloning of related functional genes and the improvement of leaf color.

Keywords

• liquidambar formosana
• leaf discoloration stage
• single-molecule real-time sequencing technology
• full-length transcriptome
• gene function annotation