• Premise of the study: Despite the extensive phenotypic variation that characterizes the Gesneriaceae family, there is a lack of
genomic resources to investigate the molecular basis of their diversity. We developed and compared the transcriptomes for two
species of the Neotropical lineage of the Gesneriaceae.
• Methods and Results: Illumina sequencing and de novo assembly of floral and leaf samples were used to generate multigene
sequence data for Sinningia eumorpha and S. magnifica, two species endemic to the Brazilian Atlantic Forest. A total of 300
million reads were used to assemble the transcriptomes, with an average of 92,038 transcripts and 43,506 genes per species. The
transcriptomes showed good quality metrics, with the presence of all eukaryotic core genes, and an equal representation of clusters
of orthologous groups (COG) classifications between species. The orthologous search produced 8602 groups, with 15–20%
of them annotated using BLAST tools.
• Discussion: This study provides the first step toward a comprehensive multispecies transcriptome characterization of the
Gesneriaceae family. These resources are the basis for comparative analyses in this species-rich Neotropical plant group; they
will also allow the investigation of the evolutionary importance of multiple metabolic pathways and phenotypic diversity, as well
as developmental programs in these nonmodel species.
Abstract