Zhu Jiayuan, Qu Meiling, Zeng Juan, He Jiawei, Zhang Jingyu, Zhou Simin, Tong Qiaozhen, Liu Xiangdan, Zhou Ribao
School of Pharmacy, Hunan University of Chinese Medicine, Changsha, Hunan, China.
Department of Pharmacy, Key Laboratory of Germplasm Resources and Standardized Cultivation of Bulk Taoist Medicinal Herbs from Hunan, Changsha, Hunan, China.
Front Plant Sci. 2025 Jul 10;16:1605238. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2025.1605238. eCollection 2025.
is a classic Chinese medicinal herb with direct flower color variation among types. Our group found differences in petal color transition between Xianglei-type (XL) and Wild-type (WT). At f1-f4 stage, the two types were green, and gradually changed from green to greenish white with development, in f5-f6, WT from white to golden yellow, but XL has little color change.
Combined with transcriptomics and metabolomics analysis, the color conversion differences between XL and WT petals of were analyzed.
Significant differential genes were identified at f1-f4, f5 and f6 in WT and XL, 14528, 7955 and 17985, respectively. At f1, the WT anthocyanin gene showed lower than XL ( < 0.05), significantly down-regulated XL and up-regulated WT at f2 ( < 0.05), but still showed higher XL than WT. XL showed significantly lower (DN46824_c0_g4), (DN43583_c0_g1), ANS (DN28844_c0_g1) than WT in f3. f4 stage, but again XL anthocyanins were higher than WT. We found that XL carotenoid genes all showed significantly higher levels than WT in f1 ( < 0.05). XL were significantly down-regulated at f2-f3 ( < 0.05), but not WT. Surprisingly, WT had a rapid rise in (DN55130_c2_g1), (DN54194_c0_g1), and (DN42921_c1_g2) at f4, far exceeding XL ( < 0.05). , , and genes on the carotenoid synthesis pathway, and and genes on the anthocyanin synthesis pathway were identified to have lower XL than WT at f5. The anthocyanin synthesis pathway , , and were more expressed in XL than WT at f6, whereas the carotenoid synthesis pathway , , and were more expressed in WT than in XL. Expression validation of these genes was performed using quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR). Metabolomic analysis identified a total of 158 flavonoids and one carotenoid. There were few pigment-related metabolites of f1-f4, WT had higher β-carotene content in f5 than XL, Pelargonin, marasin-3-O-galactoside had the most content in XL, and cyanidin had the most content in WT of f6. Weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) showed that two gene modules and one gene module were strongly associated with anthocyanin and β-carotene synthesis, respectively. Genes associated with carotenoid synthesis in the modules identified by KEGG annotation were , , , , , , and .
Our results provide an overall understanding of the regulatory mechanisms underlying differences in petals color transition of different phenotypes of .
是一种经典的中草药，不同类型之间存在直接的花色变异。我们的研究小组发现了香蕾型（XL）和野生型（WT）花瓣颜色转变的差异。在f1 - f4阶段，两种类型均为绿色，随着发育逐渐从绿色变为绿白色，在f5 - f6阶段，WT从白色变为金黄色，但XL几乎没有颜色变化。
结合转录组学和代谢组学分析，对的XL和WT花瓣之间的颜色转换差异进行了分析。
在WT和XL的f1 - f4、f5和f6阶段分别鉴定出显著差异基因，分别为14528个、7955个和17985个。在f1时，WT花青素基因低于XL（<0.05），在f2时XL显著下调而WT上调（<0.05），但XL仍高于WT。在f3、f4阶段，XL的（DN46824_c0_g4）、（DN43583_c0_g1）、ANS（DN28844_c0_g1）显著低于WT。f4阶段，XL花青素再次高于WT。我们发现，在f1时，XL类胡萝卜素基因均显著高于WT（<0.05）。XL在f2 - f3阶段显著下调（<0.05），而WT没有。令人惊讶的是，WT在f4时（DN55130_c2_g1）、（DN54194_c0_g1）和（DN42921_c1_g2）迅速上升，远超过XL（<0.05）。在f5时，类胡萝卜素合成途径上的、、和基因，以及花青素合成途径上的和基因，XL低于WT。在f6时，花青素合成途径上的、和在XL中的表达高于WT，而类胡萝卜素合成途径上的、和在WT中的表达高于XL。使用定量实时PCR（qRT-PCR）对这些基因进行了表达验证。代谢组学分析共鉴定出158种黄酮类化合物和1种类胡萝卜素。f1 - f4阶段与色素相关的代谢物较少，f5时WT的β - 胡萝卜素含量高于XL，天竺葵素、马拉辛 - 3 - O - 半乳糖苷在XL中含量最高，矢车菊素在f6的WT中含量最高。加权基因共表达网络分析（WGCNA）表明，两个基因模块和一个基因模块分别与花青素和β - 胡萝卜素合成密切相关。通过KEGG注释在模块中鉴定出的与类胡萝卜素合成相关的基因有、、、、、、和。
我们的结果提供了对不同表型花瓣颜色转变差异潜在调控机制的全面理解。
