Transcriptomic comparison between nickel hyperaccumulator and non-accumulator plant species from the Noccaea genus (Brassicaceae) from France

The leaf transcriptome of the nickel hyperaccumulator specie Noccaea caerulescens subsp. fimiensis living on serpentine soils were compared to the closely related non-nickel-accumulators Noccaea caerulescens "Viviez" growing on a zinc mining site and Noccaea montana living on serpentine soil, to identity differentially expressed genes potentially involved in Ni hyperaccumulation. Overall design: Leaves from 2 independant individual plants of Noccaea caerulescens subsp. fimiensis, Noccaea caerulescens "Viviez" and Noccaea montana were collected in their natural environment. Leaves and roots were also collected from Noccaea caerulescens subsp. firmensis and Noccaea montana hydroponically grown (Araponics, Liège, Belgium) with modified Hoagland's solution, supplemented with 20 µM Fe-HBED and 37.5 µM NiCl2 during 7 weeks. RNA of the 10 independant samples were extracted and sequenced using the Illumina paired-end sequencing technology. Reads of roots and leaves from one individual sample hydroponically grown were assembled de novo to generate transcriptome sequences. The transcriptome of Noccaea caerulescens subsp. fimiensis was used as a reference to compare the expression of genes in the three species