Single-molecule real-time sequencing of the full-length transcriptome of loquat under low-temperature stress

In this study, third-generation full-length (FL) transcriptome sequencing was performed of loquat using single-molecule real-time(SMRT) sequencing from the pooled cDNA of embryos of young loquat fruit under different low temperatures (three biological replicates for treatments of 1°C, -1°C, and -3°C, for 12 h or 24 h) and the control group(three biological replicates for treatments of room temperature), Illumina sequencing was used to correct FL transcriptome sequences. A total of 3 PacBio Iso-Seq libraries (1–2 kb, 2–3 kb and 3–6 kb) and 21 Illumina transcriptome libraries were constructed, a total of 13.41 Gb of clean reads were generated, which included 215,636 reads of insert (ROIs) and 121,654 FL, non-chimaric (FLNC) reads. Transcript clustering analysis of the FLNC reads revealed 76,586 consensus isoforms, and a total of 12,520 high-quality transcript sequences corrected with non-FL sequences were used for subsequent analysis. After the redundant reads were removed, 38,435 transcripts were obtained. A total of 27,905 coding DNA sequences (CDSs) were identified, and 407 long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) were ultimately predicted. Additionally, 24,832 simple sequence repeats (SSRs) were identified, and a total of 1,295 alternative splicing (AS) events were predicted. Furthermore, 37,993 transcripts were annotated in eight functional databases. This is the first study to perform SMRT sequencing of the FL transcriptome of loquat. The obtained transcriptomic data are conducive for further exploration of the mechanism of loquat freezing injury and thus serve as an important theoretical basis for generating new loquat material and for identifying new ways to improve loquat cold resistance.