Aluminium (Al) stress hinders crop productivity in acidic soils. Lentil contains rich source of protein and micronutrients and cultivated in different parts of world. To enhance knowledge about Al toxicity tolerance, present study emphasizes on mechanistic analysis of genes associated with Al stress through de novo transcriptomic analysis of tolerant (L-4602), wild (ILWL-15) and sensitive (BM-4) genotypes. Result: Illumina HiSeq 2500 platform evaluated contigs ranging from 15,305 to 18,861 for

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... ll the samples with N50 values of 1795 bp. Four annotation softwares revealed differential regulation of several genes where 30,158 genes were specifically up-regulated for combinations under Al stress conditions alone. Top up-regulated Differentially Expressed Genes (DEGs) in tolerant cultivar when compared to the sensitive one were found to be involved in protein transport as well as degradation, defences, cell growth and development. Wild v/s cultivar comparison revealed upregulation of wild DEGs that are involved in regulation of transcription in differentiating cells, pre-mRNA splicing, catalysis and protein ubiquitination. Based on assembled Unigenes, 89,722 high-quality SNPs and 39,874 SSRs were detected. Twelve selected genes were validated using qRT-PCR. KEGG pathway analysis extracted 8,757 GO annotation terms within molecular, cellular and biological processes. Pathway analysis indicated that organic acid synthesis and their transportation along with detoxification of ROS, an alternate pathway involving metacaspase-1,4,9 for programmed cell death were also significantly induced due to Al stress. Conclusion: Present study unveils the characterization of differential transcripts generated under Al stress indicating Al tolerance as a multiplex phenomenon which will directly widen crop improvement programmes for Al toxicity utilizing molecular approaches.