Transcriptome analysis of distinct Lindera glauca tissues revealed the differences in the unigenes related to terpenoid biosynthesis

• The roots, sarcocarps, stems, leaves and kernels of L. glauca were as materials.
• The first report of the Illumina transcriptome sequencing in L. glauca
• The unigene annotation and the analysis differential expression were performed.
• The unigenes involved in terpenoid biosynthesis were concretely discussed.
• The differences of terpenoid biosynthesis existed in distinct L. glauca tissues.

The Lindera glauca, an economically and ecologically important tree species, has emerged as a novel potential plant for the intensive studies of essential oil owing to its characteristic aroma and medicinal property in distinct tissues. However, the transcriptome information and molecular research on this species is still unknown to date. To reveal the formation and accumulation mechanism of essential oil in distinct L. glauca tissues, it is crucial to analyze transcriptome and to identify the full repertoire of potential unigenes involved in terpenoid biosynthesis. In this paper, the transcriptomes of the roots, sarcocarps, stems, leaves and kernels of L. glauca were analyzed for the first time by using short-read sequencing technology (Illumina). A total of 27.2 GB valid reads (the average length = 92.7 bp) was obtained from distinct L. glauca tissues, and then assembled de novo into 264,831 unigenes by Trinity strategy (mean size = 560.2 bp). The resulting 98,141 unigenes (38%) of all the assembled unigenes were annotated in multiple public databases, of which 114 potential unigenes were identified to be involved in the terpenoid biosynthetic accumulation in L. glauca. Additionally, the differential expression profiles revealed 675, 697, 432, 1702 and 844 high tissue-specificity expressions of unigenes in the roots, sarcocarps, stems, leaves and kernels of L. glauca, respectively. Overall, these obtained comprehensive unigene resources will contribute to advance the research regarding the specific plant and more specifically discovery of genes participating in the terpenoid pathway and its regulation in specific tissues of the L. glauca, but also could help the understanding of the differential accumulation of secondary metabolites in distinct plant tissues.