Agaves have been used for centuries as a feedstock in dryland areas for fibers, food, and beverages, and have enormous potential for biofuel production. Brazil is the world's largest producer of Agave fiber (sisal). However, since the development of synthetic fibers, the national investment in Agave research has decreased drastically, leading to the cessation of the country's breeding programs. What is left of the Brazilian elite cultivars were planted at a germplasm bank in the middle of the semiarid. Surprisingly, after 7 years of abandonment, the plants were still healthy and did not show any clear signs of stress. Here, we aimed to investigate how these plants managed to cope with this environment and the molecular basis of their biomass traits. We assembled the transcriptomic atlas of Agave sisalana, Agave fourcroydes, and Agave hybrid 11648 ((A. amaniensis x A. angustifolia) x A. amaniensis). We observed that the cultivars activated a highly overlapping set of stress-response genes, which were the most expressed transcripts. Also, raffinose was detected at high concentrations, possibly acting as an osmolyte, though differences at its biosynthesis have been found depending on cultivar. Finally, we observed differences in recalcitrance that could be attributed to lignin composition and its biosynthetic pathway. Our data contribute new insights that can help molecular breeders to correspond to emerging expectations for Agave as biorenewables feedstocks for dryland areas.

几个世纪以来，龙舌兰一直被用作干地地区纤维、食品和饮料的原料，并且具有巨大的生物燃料生产潜力。巴西是世界上最大的龙舌兰纤维（剑麻）生产国。然而，自从合成纤维发展起来，国家对龙舌兰的投资研究急剧减少，导致该国的育种计划停止。剩下的巴西优良品种种植在半干旱地区中部的种质库中。令人惊讶的是，在废弃 7 年后，这些植物仍然健康，没有任何明显的压力迹象。在这里，我们旨在研究这些植物如何设法应对这种环境及其生物量性状的分子基础。我们组装了龙舌兰、龙舌兰和龙舌兰杂交 11648 (( A. amaniensis x A. angustifolia) x A. amaniensis的转录组图谱）。我们观察到这些品种激活了一组高度重叠的应激反应基因，这是表达最多的转录本。此外，在高浓度下检测到棉子糖，可能充当渗透剂，但已发现其生物合成的差异取决于栽培品种。最后，我们观察到可归因于木质素组成及其生物合成途径的顽固性差异。我们的数据提供了新的见解，可以帮助分子育种者满足对龙舌兰作为旱地地区生物可再生原料的新兴期望。