Wounding responses have been demonstrated in species throughout the plant kingdom, and previous (+)-JQ1 research has focused on identifying systemic wound signals and the mechanisms by which they are generated, transported, and perceived. Leaf wounding is a well-characterized stimulus for the rapid activation of jasmonate synthesis through distinct autonomous and nonautonomous cellular pathways. Defoliation not only induces serious wounding but also removes a large fraction of photosynthetically active leaves from grass plants. Therefore, plant photosynthesis is reduced; carbohydrate reserves stored in the plant are mobilized; and the transcript levels of photosynthesis-related and carbohydrate metabolism-related genes, such as genes encoding the small subunits of Rubisco, Rubisco activase, light harvesting chlorophyll a/b binding proteins, fructan exohydrolase, sucrose transporter, invertase, b-amylase, and starch synthase, are changed. We previously identified 466 genes that responded to simulated grazing using the Affymetrix Rice GeneChips. These genes encode proteins that participate in signal transduction, miRNA regulation, cell wall modification, hormone synthesis, and molecular transport. However, it is unclear whether the responses were due to wounding, defoliation, or other factors. Currently, the genes that specify defoliation and mechanical wounding remain unknown, and little is understood about how expression of these genes influences plant regrowth after defoliation. In this study, the transcriptomes of sheepgrass stubble tissues collected from defoliated and mechanically wounded plants were compared using the Solexa sequencing system. By comparing the differentially expressed gene responses to defoliation and wounding, the common and distinct pathways and genes between defoliation and wounding were identified. These sequencing datasets allowed us to elucidate the common and distinct mechanisms of the plant response to defoliation and wounding, and the distinct DEGs represent a valuable resource for novel gene discovery that may improve plant tolerance toward defoliation caused by herbivores, insects, pathogens, or mechanical stress. In this study, a transcriptome profiling analysis was performed to identify genes that are differentially expressed in wounding- and defoliation-treated plants. A sequencing depth of 4.8 to 6.4 million reads per library was reached. The results of the saturation sequencing analyzed in the seven libraries indicated that the sequencing depth was sufficient to cover the transcriptome. We identified 1,836 and 3,238 wounding-responsive and defoliation-responsive DEGs, respectively, which suggested that defoliation led to nearly twice as many DEGs as wounding. Among these DEGs, 954 were uniquely expressed under defoliation and thus represent candidate genes that merit further study.