SMRT sequencing of full-length transcriptome of birch-leaf pear ( Pyrus betulifolia Bunge) under drought stress

Drought limits the pear yield and quality. The birch-leaf pear ( Pyrus betulifolia Bunge) is one of the most frequently used pear rootstocks. Identifying genes involved in drought resistance of P. betulifolia would suggest candidate genes for molecular breeding. We used single-molecule long-read sequencing technology to investigate the transcriptome of birch-leaf pear under drought stress. As a result, 362,139 consensus reads were identified using six databases, among which 342,162 genes were functionally annotated. Further, we identified 7094 long noncoding RNAs. The sequencing data contained 9891 alternative splicing and 100,836 alternative polyadenylation events. We report here the full-length sequence of birch-leaf pear, which can be used for breeding enhanced varieties.