**1. Introduction**

Ginseng is a slow-growing, deciduous, perennial plant of the *Araliaceae* family which includes *Panax ginseng* (*Renshen*, Chinese or Korean ginseng), *Panax japonicus* (Japanese ginseng) and *Panax quinquefolius* (*Xiyangshen*, American ginseng) among others [1]. Ginseng contains an extraordinarily complex mixture of chemical constituents that can vary with the species used, the place of origin, and the growing conditions [2]. Ginsengs has found therapeutic application such as anti-inflammatory, anti-haemostatic, antioxidant, anticancer, anti-diabetic, antiaging, anti-depressive, immunomodulatory, analgesic, neuroprotection, memory and learning enhancement effects in animals and humans [1, 3–7]. Various computational analyses which include genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics and bioinformatics have been used to study ginseng plant [4, 8–10].

## **1.1 Ginseng genomics and biosynthesis of ginsenosides**

A genome-scale metabolic network offers a holistic view of ginsenoside biosynthesis, helps to predict genes associated with the production of pharmacologically vital dammarane-type ginsenosides, and provides insight for improving medicinal values of ginseng by genomics-based breeding [11]. The draft genomic architecture of tetraploid *P. ginseng* cultivar (cv.) Chunpoong, by de novo genome assembly, was reported to be 2.98 Gbp and consist of 59,352 annotated genes [11]. Recently, a dynamic database was built that integrates a draft genome sequence, transcriptome profiles, and annotation datasets of ginseng, which is publicly available (http://ginsengdb.snu.ac.kr/) for the use of scientific community around the globe for exploring the valuable resources for a range of research fields related to *P. ginseng* and few other species [4]. Transcriptome analysis has identified 100 *Panax ginseng* cytochrome P450 (*PgCYP*) genes, whose expressions were significantly correlated with variation of nine mono- and total-ginsenoside contents, while further association study identified five SNPs and three InDels from six *PgCYP* genes that were significantly associated with the ginsenoside contents in the four-year-old roots of 42 genotypes [9].
