Transcriptional changes in Hydrangea varieties with varying levels of the natural sweetener phyllodulcin

Phyllodulcin (PD) is a promising natural sweetener derived from leaves of Hydrangea macrophylla. In contrast to artificial sweeteners, PD offers a safer and healthier alternative without the risks associated with artificial counterparts. To investigate genes involved in PD biosynthesis, we conducted a comparative transcriptome analysis of fresh, fully expanded young upper leaves from three replicates of 14 selected hydrangea varieties (one H. paniculate and 13 H. macrophylla varieties), each with varying levels of PD concentration. Total RNA was extracted with a kit (Spectrum™ Plant Total RNA-Kit; Sigma-Aldrich®) following manufacturer's instructions. Library construction and sequencing were done at Novogene (UK) Company Limited. Briefly, RNA integrity and quantitation were determined with the Agilent 2100 Bioanalyzer. Total mRNA was enriched with oligo(dT) beads and randomly fragmented with fragmentation buffer. A stranded specific library was then prepared for each sample and sequenced with a NovaSeq 6000 PE150 platform.