APPLICATION OF TRANSCRIPTOME SEQUENCING IN MOLECULAR BREEDING IN ASTERACEAE PLANTS

The Asteraceae family has an advanced evolution in morphology and a strong adaptability to the environment. It is one of the largest families of the angiosperms and it has a tremendous ornamental and economic value. So far, there is no whole genome sequence available for species belonging to the Asteraceae. Due to the complexity of the genetic background, research on molecular breeding of Asteraceae is seriously limited. The emergence and development of transcriptome sequencing offer a ray of optimism; therefore this technique has been used recently in studies in many members of the Asteraceae family. This review focuses on the application of transcriptome sequencing in screening for key genes linked to specific processes, in developing SNP and SSR markers, and in studying the evolutionary processes within the Asteraceae.