Transcriptomic comparison between nickel hyperaccumulator and non-accumulator plant species from the Psychotria genus (Rubiacaeae) endemic from New Caledonia

The leaf transcriptome of the nickel hyperaccumulator Psychotria gabriellae (Rubiaceae) endemic from New Caledonia was compared to the closely related non-accumulator Psychotria semperflorens, living in sympatry with P. gabriellae in rain forest on serpentine soil, to identity differentially expressed genes potentially involved in Ni hyperaccumulation. Leaves from 3 independant individual plants of Psychotria gabriellae and Psychotria semperflorens were collected in their natural environment. RNA of the 6 independant samples were extracted and sequenced using the Illumina paired-end sequencing technology. Reads from one individual plant per species were assembled de novo to generate transcriptome sequences. The transcriptome of P. gabriellae was used as a reference to compare the expression of genes in both species.