Transcriptomic dataset of the invasive species Thunbergia alata and its congener Thunbergia grandiflora (Acanthaceae) in Cali, Colombia

This article presents the first comprehensive transcriptomic dataset of Thunbergia alata Bojer ex Sims, a fast-growing vine recognized as one of the most aggressive invasive plant species in the Neotropics. Native to eastern Africa and now widely naturalized across tropical and subtropical regions, T. alata exhibits remarkable ecological plasticity, allowing it to colonize diverse habitats and outcompete native vegetation. The availability of a complete transcriptomic resource for this species provides an essential foundation for exploring the molecular mechanisms underlying its invasiveness, rapid adaptation, and physiological resilience. By profiling transcriptomes from vegetative and reproductive tissues across multiple developmental stages in Thunbergia alata , this dataset opens new opportunities for comparative genomic and evolutionary studies aimed at understanding the genetic basis of invasion success in non-model tropical plants. Using RNA-seq, we generated de novo transcriptomes from vegetative and reproductive tissues at two developmental stages, complemented with comparative data from its non-invasive congener Thunbergia grandiflora . The dataset includes eight transcriptomes deposited in the National Center of Biotechnology Information (NCBI) Sequence Read Archive (SRA) database (SAMN51331451–SAMN51331458). Quality-filtered assemblies were evaluated with BUSCO, and differential expression analyses revealed thousands of genes potentially linked to adaptive processes, reproduction, stress responses, and invasiveness. These data provide a critical resource for studying the molecular mechanisms of invasiveness, plant adaptation, and comparative molecular evolution in non-model climbing species.