State Key Laboratory of Subtropical Silviculture, School of Forestry & Biotechnology, Zhejiang A&F University, Lin'an, Hangzhou 311300, China.
Int J Mol Sci. 2023 Feb 14;24(4):3829. doi: 10.3390/ijms24043829.
Anthocyanins produce different-colored pigments in plant organs, which provide ornamental value. Thus, this study was conducted to understand the mechanism of anthocyanin synthesis in ornamental plants. , a Chinese specialty tree, has high ornamental and economic value due to its rich leaf color and diverse metabolic products. Here, the metabolic data and gene expression of red leaves at the three developmental stages were evaluated to elucidate the color-production mechanism in the red-leaved species. First, metabolomic analysis identified 34 anthocyanin metabolites showing high levels of cyanidin-3-O-glucoside (cya-3-O-glu) in the S1 stage, which may suggest that it is a characteristic metabolite associated with the red coloration of the leaves. Second, transcriptome analysis showed that 94 structural genes were involved in anthocyanin biosynthesis, especially flavanone -hydroxy-lase (), and were significantly correlated with the cya-3-O-glu level. Third, K-means clustering analysis and phylogenetic analyses identified and , which shared the same expression pattern as most structural genes, indicating that these two genes may be regulators of anthocyanin biosynthesis in . Finally, overexpression of in leaves triggered anthocyanin accumulation. These findings provide a basis for cultivating varieties that have high ornamental value.
花色素苷在植物器官中产生不同颜色的色素，具有观赏价值。因此，本研究旨在探讨观赏植物花色素苷合成的机制。红叶石楠是中国的一种特色树种，因其丰富的叶色和多样的代谢产物而具有较高的观赏和经济价值。本研究以红叶石楠的红叶为研究对象，在三个发育阶段评估了其代谢数据和基因表达，以阐明该品种叶片颜色形成的机制。首先，代谢组学分析鉴定出 34 种花色素苷代谢物，在 S1 期表现出高水平的矢车菊素-3-O-葡萄糖苷（cya-3-O-glu），这可能表明它是与叶片红色有关的特征代谢物。其次，转录组分析表明，94 个结构基因参与花色素苷生物合成，特别是类黄酮 3-羟化酶（），与 cya-3-O-glu 水平显著相关。第三，K-means 聚类分析和系统发育分析鉴定出和，它们与大多数结构基因的表达模式相同，表明这两个基因可能是调控红叶石楠花色素苷生物合成的调节剂。最后，在红叶石楠叶片中过表达，触发了花色素苷的积累。这些发现为培育具有较高观赏价值的红叶石楠品种提供了依据。
