[Advance in transcriptomic studies of ginseng species]

There are many valuable medicinal plants in Ginseng genus belonging to Araliaceae. Among them, Panax ginseng, P. quinquefolium and P. notoginseng are the most famous species. With the development of next-generation sequencing (NGS) technologies, sequencing and analysis of transcriptomes have become powerful tools for discovery of novel genes, screening molecular markers and elucidation of specific biosynthetic pathway of secondary metabolites. Their transcriptomes provided abundant genes for further study on functional genomics. Here this paper summarized the recent advances in the transcriptomic studies of these three medicinal plants, including discovery of novel genes and elucidation of metabolic regulation, which will contribute to functional genomics in ginseng species.