De novo sequencing, characterization, and comparison of inflorescence transcriptomes of Cornus canadensis and C. florida (Cornaceae). Comparative transcriptome sequencing in Cornus L.

Transcriptome sequencing analysis is a powerful tool in molecular genetics and evolutionary biology. Here we report the results of de novo 454 sequencing, characterization, and comparison of inflorescence transcriptomes of two closely related dogwood species, Cornus canadensis and C. florida (Cornaceae). Our goals were to build a preliminary source of genome sequence data, and to identify genes potentially expressed differentially between the inflorescence transcriptomes for these important horticultural species.