Transcriptome dataset of Metroxylon sagu palms from multiple sago plantations in Sarawak

TL;DR

This study provides a transcriptome dataset of healthy trunking sago palms from Sarawak to understand the genes involved in their normal growth.

Contribution

The study identifies differentially expressed genes in trunking sago palms, offering insights into their molecular mechanisms.

Findings

A total of 6,119 differentially expressed genes were identified across three sago palm datasets.

4,384 genes were downregulated, while 1,735 were upregulated in trunking sago palms.

The dataset reveals commonly expressed genes among healthy trunking sago palms.

Abstract

Sago palm (Metroxylon sagu Rottb.) is one of the most important economic crops abundantly found in Mukah, Sarawak, Malaysia. The robustness of the palm triggered the Sarawak government’s selection as one of the state’s commodity crops, with the opening of several sago palm plantations. However, stunted (non-trunking) palms were reported in several sago palm plantations despite attaining a maturity period of more than ten years after cultivation. Research targeting this problem has been conducted in various fields, yet information on molecular mechanisms is still scarce. This study aimed to determine the genes responsible for sago palm’s normal phenotype (trunking) by attaining leaf transcriptomes from samples of all trunking sago palms from different sago palm plantations.

The conventional CTAB method was employed in the present investigation to extract total RNA from leaf tissues. Transcriptome sequencing was conducted on the Illumina NovaSeq 6000 platform. Differential expression analysis was performed using the DESeq2 package. A total of 6,119 differentially expressed genes, comprising 4,384 downregulated and 1,735 upregulated genes, were expressed in all three sago palm datasets. The datasets provide insights into the commonly expressed genes among trunking sago palms.