Transcriptome sequencing of infected wheat samples collected during the wheat blast epidemic in Bangladesh in 2016 and release of raw sequence data on OpenWheatBlast website for open access

In 2016, wheat fields in Bangladesh were infected by wheat blast fungus (<i>Magnaporthe oryzae</i>) for the first time. The fungus spread quickly thoroughout the country and threatened other wheat growing areas in neighbouring countries. Islam <i>et al </i>(BMC Biology 2016 14:84<strong>, </strong>DOI<strong>: </strong>10.1186/s12915-016-0309-7) collected infected wheat samples, extracted RNA, and obtained short reads by Illumina RNA-Seq technology. Library preparation and sequencing runs were performed on Illumina HiSeq-2500 machines to produce paired-end reads with ~300 bp insert size. Here we report the release of all raw sequence data to public via OpenWheatBlast website for open access.<br><br>