Transcriptomics in Solanaceous Crop Improvement: Advances and Opportunities

Xinlong Qiao¹Bijiao Jian¹Jiatong Qiu¹Jagmohan Singh²Ishveen Kaur³Ronglin Hao¹Jasdeep Singh⁴Lovepreet Singh^5,6Huijun Zhang⁷Xueren Yin¹Xiang Li^1,4*Gurleen Kaur^4*Haisu Li^1*

• ¹Anhui Agricultural University, Hefei, China
• ²Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar, India
• ³Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, United States
• ⁴University of Florida, Gainesville, United States
• ⁵Mississippi State University, Mississippi State University, United States
• ⁶University of Minnesota Twin Cities, Minneapolis, United States
• ⁷Huaibei Normal University, Huaibei, China

The solanaceae family includes several economically important crops. Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum), potato (S. tuberosum), eggplant (S. melongena), and pepper (Capsicum annuum) are among the most consumed vegetables worldwide. Over the past few decades, consumers have often expressed dissatisfaction with declining fruit quality, especially flavor, while growers' profits remain tied primarily to yield and stress resistance. Thus, reconciling these divergent demands provides a clear roadmap for improving solanaceous crops. To completely understand molecular mechanisms underlying biological processes associated with fruit quality, yield, and stresses, there is a need to focus on gene expression at the RNA level. With the availability of next-generation sequencing (NGS) technologies, transcriptomics platforms have helped to improve our knowledge about RNA-based gene regulatory networks. The current review discusses the recent literature on transcriptomics techniques and their progress status in major solanaceae crops across important agronomic traits. In addition to the current improvements, we have also discussed future perspectives of transcriptomics in genetic engineering.