De novo Transcriptome Assembly and Characterization of the Dark to Light Transition of Triticum monococcum (DV92)

Domesticated Einkorn (Triticum monococcum L.) is an annual diploid species of wheat that was once widely cultivated. As diploid wheat, Einkorn is important in the phylogenetic analysis of today’s commonly cultivated polyploidy wheat. In addition, Einkhorn represents an important source of useful genes and alleles that are used in breeding wheat species that are tolerant to abiotic and biotic stresses. Next generation sequencing is a powerful approach for the analysis of the transcriptome, and further understanding the molecular biology of Einkorn.

Light is an important environmental factor that governs plant growth in development.  After germination, the seedling undergoes skotomorphogenesis, which is characterized by the rapid elongation of the shoot and minimal elongation of the root system in effort to reach light. Once the shoot reaches light for the first time, the seedling undergoes new changes. The slowing of shoot elongation, start of radial expansion, coupled with expanding the root system is known as photomorphogenesis.

In this study, we used RNA-seq to analyze the transcriptome of the dark to light transition in Einkorn seedlings. After assembly, a number of genes were identified based on sequence similarity with known proteins. This data will aid in understanding the gene expression that occurs in seedling development in the Einkorn wheat. This study provides further knowledge in the de novo assembly of transcriptome data and will be helpful in similar transcriptome studies.