Lou Qian, Liu Yali, Qi Yinyan, Jiao Shuzhen, Tian Feifei, Jiang Ling, Wang Yuejin
College of Horticulture, Northwest A & F University, Yangling 712100, Shaanxi, PR China Key Laboratory of Biology and Genetic Improvement of Horticultural Crops (Northwest Region), Ministry of Agriculture, Yangling, Shaanxi 712100, PR China State Key Laboratory of Crop Stress Biology in Arid Areas, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712100, Shaanxi, PR China.
Key Laboratory of Biology and Genetic Improvement of Horticultural Crops (Northwest Region), Ministry of Agriculture, Yangling, Shaanxi 712100, PR China State Key Laboratory of Crop Stress Biology in Arid Areas, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712100, Shaanxi, PR China College of Forestry, Northwest A & F University, Yangling 712100, Shaanxi, PR China.
J Exp Bot. 2014 Jul;65(12):3157-64. doi: 10.1093/jxb/eru168. Epub 2014 Apr 30.
Grape hyacinth (Muscari) is an important ornamental bulbous plant with an extraordinary blue colour. Muscari armeniacum, whose flowers can be naturally white, provides an opportunity to unravel the complex metabolic networks underlying certain biochemical traits, especially colour. A blue flower cDNA library of M. armeniacum and a white flower library of M. armeniacum f. album were used for transcriptome sequencing. A total of 89 926 uni-transcripts were isolated, 143 of which could be identified as putative homologues of colour-related genes in other species. Based on a comprehensive analysis relating colour compounds to gene expression profiles, the mechanism of colour biosynthesis was studied in M. armeniacum. Furthermore, a new hypothesis explaining the lack of colour phenotype of the grape hyacinth flower is proposed. Alteration of the substrate competition between flavonol synthase (FLS) and dihydroflavonol 4-reductase (DFR) may lead to elimination of blue pigmentation while the multishunt from the limited flux in the cyanidin (Cy) synthesis pathway seems to be the most likely reason for the colour change in the white flowers of M. armeniacum. Moreover, mass sequence data obtained by the deep sequencing of M. armeniacum and its white variant provided a platform for future function and molecular biological research on M. armeniacum.
葡萄风信子（Muscari）是一种重要的观赏球根植物，具有独特的蓝色。亚美尼亚葡萄风信子（Muscari armeniacum）的花朵天然可为白色，这为揭示某些生化特性（尤其是颜色）背后复杂的代谢网络提供了契机。利用亚美尼亚葡萄风信子的蓝色花朵cDNA文库和亚美尼亚葡萄风信子白花变型（M. armeniacum f. album）的白色花朵文库进行转录组测序。共分离出89926个单转录本，其中143个可被鉴定为其他物种中与颜色相关基因的假定同源物。基于对颜色化合物与基因表达谱的综合分析，研究了亚美尼亚葡萄风信子颜色生物合成的机制。此外，还提出了一个新的假说来解释葡萄风信子花朵缺乏颜色表型的原因。黄酮醇合酶（FLS）和二氢黄酮醇4-还原酶（DFR）之间底物竞争的改变可能导致蓝色色素沉着的消除，而矢车菊素（Cy）合成途径中有限通量的多分支似乎是亚美尼亚葡萄风信子白色花朵颜色变化的最可能原因。此外，通过对亚美尼亚葡萄风信子及其白色变种的深度测序获得的大量序列数据为未来对亚美尼亚葡萄风信子的功能和分子生物学研究提供了一个平台。
