Identification of differentially expressed genes in sunflower (Helianthus annuus) leaves and roots under drought stress by RNA sequencing

BACKGROUND: Sunflower is recognized as one of the most important oil plants with strong tolerance to drought in the world. In order to study the response mechanisms of sunflower plants to drought stress, gene expression profiling using high throughput sequencing was performed for seedling leaves and roots (sunflower inbred line R5) after 24 h of drought stress (15% PEG 6000). The transcriptome assembled using sequences of 12 samples was used as a reference. RESULTS: 805 and 198 genes were identified that were differentially expressed in leaves and roots, respectively. Another 71 genes were differentially expressed in both organs, in which more genes were up-regulated than down-regulated. In agreement with results obtained for other crops or from previous sunflower studies, we also observed that nine genes may be associated with the response of sunflower to drought. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study may provide new information regarding the sunflower drought response, as well as add to the number of known genes associated with drought tolerance. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s40529-017-0197-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.