Tong Zhijun, Yang Kun, Chen Xuejun, Xu Fei, Sui Xueyi, Huang Yujie, Zhu Shenyun, Shen Enhui, Wu Sanling, Fan Longjiang, Xiao Bingguang
Key Laboratory of Tobacco Biotechnological Breeding, Yunnan Academy of Tobacco Agricultural Sciences, Kunming, China.
Institute of Crop Sciences & Institute of Bioinformatics, College of Agriculture and Biotechnology, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China.
Front Plant Sci. 2025 Jun 24;16:1615756. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2025.1615756. eCollection 2025.
, widely cultivated for its economic and scientific value, produces a broad range of secondary metabolites that play critical roles in determining leaf quality and flavor. Despite substantial progress, the comprehensive regulatory landscape governing secondary metabolite biosynthesis during leaf development remains largely unclear.
To better understand the molecular regulatory mechanisms underlying the biosynthesis of secondary metabolites, particularly flavonoids, during leaf development, we conducted a transcriptomic and non-targeted metabolomic sequencing and analysis at three critical developmental stages: vigorous growth stage (T1), topping stage (T2), and harvest stage (T3).
Based on our transcriptomic and metabolomic data, 25 unigenes exhibiting stage-specific expression patterns that were strongly associated with flavonoid accumulation were identified. We found that during early developmental stages (T1-T2), upregulated expression of chalcone synthase (CHS) and chalcone isomerase (CHI) correlated with enhanced flavonoid backbone biosynthesis. In contrast, during the later stage (T3), increased expression of dihydroflavonol 4-reductase (DFR) and anthocyanidin synthase (ANS) was consistent with elevated anthocyanin accumulation.
This study systematically analyzed the coordinated regulatory network of flavonoid biosynthesis during leaf development in , revealing dynamic metabolic shifts across developmental stages. The findings offer novel molecular insights into the mechanisms underlying leaf quality formation and establish a theoretical framework for functional studies of candidate genes, reinforcing the utility of as a model species for secondary metabolism research and breeding innovation.
因其经济和科学价值而被广泛种植，能产生多种次生代谢产物，这些产物在决定叶片品质和风味方面起着关键作用。尽管取得了重大进展，但在叶片发育过程中调控次生代谢产物生物合成的全面调控格局仍 largely 不清楚。
为了更好地理解叶片发育过程中次生代谢产物，特别是黄酮类化合物生物合成的分子调控机制，我们在三个关键发育阶段进行了转录组和非靶向代谢组测序及分析：旺盛生长阶段（T1）、打顶阶段（T2）和收获阶段（T3）。
基于我们的转录组和代谢组数据，鉴定出 25 个具有阶段特异性表达模式且与黄酮类化合物积累密切相关的单基因。我们发现，在发育早期阶段（T1 - T2），查尔酮合酶（CHS）和查尔酮异构酶（CHI）的上调表达与黄酮类化合物骨架生物合成的增强相关。相反，在后期阶段（T3），二氢黄酮醇 4 - 还原酶（DFR）和花青素合酶（ANS）的表达增加与花青素积累的增加一致。
本研究系统分析了叶片发育过程中黄酮类化合物生物合成的协同调控网络，揭示了不同发育阶段的动态代谢变化。这些发现为叶片品质形成机制提供了新的分子见解，并为候选基因的功能研究建立了理论框架，增强了其作为次生代谢研究和育种创新模式物种的实用性。
