Transcriptomic profiling of Panax japonicus to study ginsenoside biosynthesis

Ginsenosides are a class of natural product triterpene saponins and almost exclusively in the plant genus Panax which has a long history of use as dietary supplements. Pharmacological research demonstrated that ginsenosides have multiple bioactivities. Ginsenoside is produced at high levels within Panax japonicus, and we have performed RNA sequencing of multiple tissues from this species in order to investigate the biosynthetic genes required for producing ginsenoside.