Gene expression profile of the developing endosperm in durum wheat provides insight into starch biosynthesis

Durum wheat (Triticum turgidum subsp. durum) is widely grown for pasta production, and more recently, is gaining additional interest due to its resilience to warm, dry climates and its use as an experimental model for wheat research. To enable further research into endosperm development and storage reserve synthesis, we generated a high-quality transcriptomics dataset from developing endosperms of durum variety Kronos, to complement the extensive mutant resources available for this variety. Endosperms were dissected from grains harvested at eight timepoints during grain development (6 to 30 days post anthesis (dpa)), then RNA sequencing was used to profile the transcriptome at each stage. The largest changes in gene expression profile were observed between the earlier timepoints, prior to 15 dpa. We detected a total of 29,925 genes that were significantly differentially expressed between at least two timepoints, and clustering analysis revealed nine distinct expression patterns. Overall, we provide a valuable resource for studying endosperm development in this increasingly important crop species. RNA samples were extracted from endosperm tissue dissected from developing grains. We analysed 8 timepoints (6, 8, 10, 13, 15, 18, 20, 30 days post anthesis) throughout grain development, and three replicates (harvested from three separate plants) per timepoint.