De novo transcriptome sequencing in wild chickpea species: Identification of candidate genes playing a role in freezing tolerance and development of functional markers

This study presents a comparative de novo transcriptome analysis of cold-tolerant and cold-sensitive cultivated chickpea genotypes (ILC8262 and ILC533) and three wild relatives (Cicer bijugum, Cicer reticulatum, and Cicer echinospermum) under freezing stress, using Illumina RNA sequencing to uncover species-specific and conserved cold-responsive gene expression patterns.