Coding transcriptome of millipede Cherokia georgiana

Out of thousands of known millipede species, genetic data is extremely limited. Many interesting biological processes in millipedes are ill-defined, such as the production of a defensive hydrogen cyanide secretion and UV fluorescence in the order Polydesmida. This study presents the coding regions and functional annotations of the millipede C. georgiana. This de novo sequenced transcriptome will facilitate future research in understanding gene expression under a variety of conditions . Next-generation sequencing was conducted on polyA-enriched mature messenger RNAs using Illumina 2x150 paired-end sequencing. Total number of assembled contigs was 205,878. Transcripts were annotated using the database Diamond BLASTx to compare obtained sequences to existing NCBI transcriptomic data. Genes involved in the production of cyanide, such as mandelonitrile oxidase and hydroxynitrile lyase, are identified for this species. The data presented here enhances existing knowledge of millipede biology and provides a valuable reference for future research in myriapod evolution and ecology.