Transcriptomics in solanaceous crop improvement: advances and opportunities

The solanaceae family includes several economically important crops. Tomato (<i>Solanum lycopersicum</i>), potato (<i>S. tuberosum</i>), eggplant (<i>S. melongena</i>), and pepper (<i>Capsicum annuum</i>) 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.