Next generation sequencing of leaf transcriptome from taro (Colocasia esculenta) cultivars Niue, Palau 10, and Sam-07

Despite the fact that taro, colocasia esculenta, is an important staple food for millions of people around the world, its genome and transcriptome sequence has not yet been investigated. The objective of this study was to generate transcriptome sequence information from taro cultivars Niue, Palau 10, and Sam-07. Niue and Sam-07 are highly susceptible to the taro leaf blight (TLB) disease caused by Phytophthora colocasiae, to which Palau 10 is resistant. The analysis of the taro transcriptome will facilitate gene discovery, including genes that are responsible for TLB-resistance. Moreover, microsatellites (SSRs) developped from these data will be useful for marker-assisted breeding of improved taro cultivars, QTL mapping, and characterization of the genetic diversity in taro. Overall design: Three RNA-seq samples were obtained from the leaves of each of three taro cultivars, including Niue (CePaCT Accession # CE/SM/05); Ngerruuch (CePaCT Accession # CE/PAL/10), aka Palau 10 or P-10; and Samasama (CePaCT Accession Number: CE/SM/10), aka Sam7.