Bougainvillea sp. are native to the Amazonian rainforests of South America but are globally distributed. They are used mainly as ornamental and landscaping plants (Tsai, Su, Liao, & Hung, 2005). Bougainvillea sp. belongs to the family Nyctaginaceae and comprises ~ 18 species (B. berberidifolia, B. buttiana, B. campanulata, B. glabra, B. herzogiana, B. infesta, B. lehmanniana, B. lehmannii, B. malmeana, B. modesta, B. pachyphylla, B. peruviana, B. pomacea, B. precox, B. spectabilis, B. spinosa, B. stipitata, and B. trollii) (Abarca-Vargas & Petricevich, 2018). To date, over 100 cultivars and three major hybrids have been recognized (Abarca-Vargas & Petricevich, 2018; Tsai et al., 2005). However, only four species (B. buttiana, B. glabra, B. spectabilis, and B. peruviana) have been commercially exploited (Choudhary, Kapoor, & Lodha, 2008).
Bougainvillea sp. have been extensively investigated since 1970 as potential sources of traditional medicine (Hernandez-Martinez, Estevez, Vargas, Quintanilla, & Rodriguez, 2011; Heuer et al., 1994). Aqueous Bougainvillea extracts and decoctions are used for fertility control by the tribal people of several countries (Ghogar & Jiraungkoorskul, 2017). Bougainvillea may also have anticancer, antidiabetic, antihepatotoxic, anti-inflammatory, antihyperlipidemic, antimicrobial, antioxidant, and anti-ulcer properties (Arteaga Figueroa, Barbosa Navarro, Patino Vera, & Petricevich, 2015). The alkaloids, essential oils, flavonoids, glycosides, oxalates, phenolics, phlobotannins, quinones, saponins, tannins, and terpenoids in Bougainvillea sp. might account for their putative medicinal properties (Saleem et al., 2019). Bougainvinones, pinitol, quercetagetin, quercetin, and terpinolene may also contribute to the therapeutic efficacy of Bougainvillea (Ghogar & Jiraungkoorskul, 2017; Hernandez-Martinez et al., 2011).
Analyses of the metabolites (Sangthong, Suksabye, & Thiravetyan, 2016), natural dyes and pigments (Sangthong et al., 2016), medicinal uses, and species diversity of Bougainvillea have been conducted. In contrast, there have been few molecular studies of this genus. No genome of Bougainvillea has ever been sequenced up-to-date; and it won’t be done in the coming few years due to technical and economic difficulties. Limited omics research has been performed to elucidate the molecular basis of the aforementioned properties of Bougainvillea especially at the systematic level. As no genome has been clarified for Bougainvillea, current molecular research on this plant is often compared against or referred to Arabidopsis thaliana. Consequently, its gene behavior is uncertain, ambiguous, or even misunderstood as there are genomic gaps between organisms. Therefore, an alternative genomic resource is required that can complement or fill the no-genome gap. Here, our objectives were to use multiple Illumina RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) transcriptomes determined for various Bougainvillea tissues and generate a sequence library consisting of all expressed transcripts. This library could serve as an alternative genomic reference for the molecular exploration of Bougainvillea and will be presented as an online interactive database.