Project description:Cymbopogon spp. are grass species widely used around the world as medicinal plants and in various industries for the production of perfumes and pharmaceuticals. Despite their extensive use, there are relatively few studies at the genomic and transcriptomic levels. In this study, transcriptomic data were generated for two species—Cymbopogon flexuosus and Cymbopogon winterianus—to investigate evolutionary aspects and the expression of genes associated with secondary metabolite biosynthesis. The transcriptome assembly revealed a total of 18,286 and 22,458 transcripts for C. flexuosus and C. winterianus, respectively. Furthermore, the reads were mapped against the genomes of related species, including Andropogon gerardii, Sorghum bicolor, Saccharum officinarum, Miscanthus sinensis, Miscanthus lutarioriparius, and Zea mays, to assess their conservation across these genomes. The results indicated which species are more closely related to the Cymbopogon genus and highlighted key differences in metabolic pathways.
Project description:Honeybees are ecologically indispensable pollinators and an important resource for biologically active natural products. Among honeybee taxa, Apis dorsata (the giant Asian honeybee) is a wild, open-nesting species distributed across South and Southeast Asia that displays distinct behavioral and ecological traits compared with domesticated species such as Apis mellifera and Apis cerana. Despite its ecological prominence and frequent human–bee interactions, A. dorsata has received comparatively little molecular characterization, and its venom proteome remains poorly described. This work establishes a foundational molecular inventory for A. dorsata venom and underscores the species’ value as a source of novel bioactive compounds for future biochemical and pharmacological exploration.