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Background Radish (Raphanus sativus L., 2n = 2× = 18) is an economically important vegetable crop worldwide. A large collection of radish expressed sequence tags (ESTs) has been generated but remains largely uncharacterized. Results In this study, approximately 315,000 ESTs derived from 22 Raphanus cDNA libraries from 18 different genotypes were analyzed, for the purpose of gene and marker discovery and to evaluate large-scale genome duplication and phylogenetic relationships among Raphanus spp. The ESTs were assembled into 85,083 unigenes, of which 90%, 65%, 89% and 89% had homologous sequences in the GenBank nr, SwissProt, TrEMBL and Arabidopsis protein databases, respectively. A total of 66,194 (78%) could be assigned at least one gene ontology (GO) term. Comparative analysis identified 5,595 gene families unique to radish that were significantly enriched with genes related to small molecule metabolism, as well as 12,899 specific to the Brassicaceae that were enriched with genes related to seed oil body biogenesis and responses to phytohormones. The analysis further indicated that the divergence of radish and Brassica rapa occurred approximately 8.9-14.9 million years ago (MYA), following a whole-genome duplication event (12.8-21.4 MYA) in their common ancestor. An additional whole-genome duplication event in radish occurred at 5.1-8.4 MYA, after its divergence from B. rapa. A total of 13,570 simple sequence repeats (SSRs) and 28,758 high-quality single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were also identified. Using a subset of SNPs, the phylogenetic relationships of eight different accessions of Raphanus was inferred. Conclusion Comprehensive analysis of radish ESTs provided new insights into radish genome evolution and the phylogenetic relationships of different radish accessions. Moreover, the radish EST sequences and the associated SSR and SNP markers described in this study represent a valuable resource for radish functional genomics studies and breeding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Chrysanthemum is one of the most important ornamental crops in the world and drought stress seriously limits its production and distribution. In order to generate a functional genomics resource and obtain a deeper understanding of the molecular mechanisms regarding chrysanthemum responses to dehydration stress, we performed large-scale transcriptome sequencing of chrysanthemum plants under dehydration stress using the Illumina sequencing technology. Results: Two cDNA libraries constructed from mRNAs of control and dehydration-treated seedlings were sequenced by Illumina technology. A total of more than 100 million reads were generated and de novo assembled into 98,180 unique transcripts which were further extensively annotated by comparing their sequencing to different protein databases. Biochemical pathways were predicted from these transcript sequences. Furthermore, we performed gene expression profiling analysis upon dehydration treatment in chrysanthemum and identified 8,558 dehydration-responsive unique transcripts, including 307 transcription factors and 229 protein kinases and many well-known stress responsive genes. Gene ontology (GO) term enrichment and biochemical pathway analyses showed that dehydration stress caused changes in hormone response, secondary and amino acid metabolism, and light and photoperiod response. These findings suggest that drought tolerance of chrysanthemum plants may be related to the regulation of hormone biosynthesis and signaling, reduction of oxidative damage, stabilization of cell proteins and structures, and maintenance of energy and carbon supply. Conclusions: Our transcriptome sequences can provide a valuable resource for chrysanthemum breeding and research and novel insights into chrysanthemum responses to dehydration stress and offer candidate genes or markers that can be used to guide future studies attempting to breed drought tolerant chrysanthemum cultivars. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]