Citrullus colocynthis, genomic and transcriptomic data.

This project collects the genomic and transcriptomic data generated for Citrullus colocynthis to facilitate genome assembly and annotation performed by the International Center for Biosaline Agriculture (ICBA, https://www.biosaline.org/ and organised by the European Reference Genome Atlas (ERGA, https://www.erga-biodiversity.eu/) initiative. The Cucurbitaceae is a large family with several economically important species, such as watermelon (Citrullus lanatus), melon (Cucumis melo), cucumber (Cucumis sativus), and several Cucurbita species with edible fruits. Citrullus colocynthis (L.) Schrad (2n = 22), closely related to domesticated watermelon (Citrullus lanatus var. lanatus) [G. Chomicki, S. S. Renner, 2015]. Early literature indicates that C. colocynthis is the closest relative or progenitor of watermelon (Citrullus lanatus (South African watermelon) and Citrullus vulgaris L. (Linnaeus' watermelon) (Assis et al., 2000). It is a wild native plant growing in arid areas, widely distributed in the Sahara-Arabian desert in Africa and the Mediterranean region and is a highly drought-tolerant species with a deep root system (Si et al., 2010; Wang et al., 2014). It can survive arid environments by maintaining its water content under severe stress conditions. Apart from being drought tolerant, C. colocynthis is an important medicinal plant and a source of valuable oil (Dane et al., 2007). Colocynth is a rich source of functionally important bioactive compounds and therapeutics such as polyphenols, glycosides, triterpenes, and cucurbitacins, and its fruit has been widely used for the treatment of many diseases including diabetes, rheumatism, paronychia, ulcer and cancer(Hussain et al., 2014). The seeds of C. colocynthis contain edible oil, 56% of which had linoleic acids and 25% of which contained oleic acids (Sawaya et al., 1983). Fruits hold bioactive chemical constituents such as glycosides, flavonoids, alkaloids, and terpenoids. At the same time, “cucurbitacins A, B, C, D, E, I, J, K, and L and Colocynthosides A, and B” have also been isolated (Hussain et al., 2014).