Comparative transcriptome analysis of tree Eucalyptus species using RNAseq technology: analysis of genes interfering in wood quality aspects

Background The Eucalyptus wood is one of the most important raw materials for pulp and paper industry. Brazil is currently the first producer of short-fiber pulp and sixth in total production of cellulose. To maintain the industrial competitiveness, investment in genomic research started in 2002 with the GENOLYPTUS project (Brazilian Network of Eucalyptus Genome Research). Recently, a new transcriptome library was generated using Next Generation RNA Sequencing by Illumina’s sequencing by synthesis technology. Different species of Eucalyptus are recognized for their superior characteristics in terms of growth, wood quality and resistance to different types of stress (1). Such features are probably driven by the coordinated expression of numerous genes involved in processes of structural and regulatory genes in xylogenesis. Therefore, the main purpose of this study is to identify genes and key metabolic compounds directly involved in wood quality, as well as transcription factors involved. An extensive data mining in the RNAseq database was conducted to identify sequences over expressed in xylem and those that were differentially expressed between species.