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ARTICLE
Transcriptome Profiling of Flower Development Reveals Key Genes Mediating Yellow Formation in Tree Peony
Yanzhao Zhang*, Chenyang Yu, Xi Lu, Yanwei Cheng
Life Science Department, Luoyang Normal University, Luoyang, 471934, China
* Corresponding Author: Yanzhao Zhang. Email:
Phyton-International Journal of Experimental Botany 2022, 91(11), 2505-2518. https://doi.org/10.32604/phyton.2022.021455
Received 15 January 2022; Accepted 28 March 2022; Issue published 12 July 2022
Abstract
Tree peony cultivars with yellow flowers are rare and valuable, but the molecular mechanism of pigment accumulation is not clear. In this study, the petal transcriptome of three developmental stages were sequenced to determine the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) regulating yellow flowers color. The results showed that 10,842 and 12,022 DEGs were screened in stage 1
vs. stage 2 and in stage 2
vs. stage 3, respectively. Through analysis of flavonoid structural genes (FSGs), we found that the transcription level of
DFR was very low in the three developmental stages. In a small group of cultivars, the
DFR transcription level of red flowers was 862 times higher than that of yellow flowers. These data suggested that the flavonoid pathway is interrupted in the later stage due to the low transcriptional level of
DFR, which limits the biosynthesis of anthocyanins in yellow flowers. The transcription levels of
F3’H and
FLS were upregulated from stage 1 to stage 2, while those of
CHI and
FLS were downregulated from stage 2 to stage 3. In addition, 67 MYBs and 44 bHLHs showed similar transcription profiles with different members of FSGs. The results deepen our understanding of the molecular mechanism of yellow pigment accumulation in tree peony.
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Cite This Article
Zhang, Y., Yu, C., Lu, X., Cheng, Y. (2022). Transcriptome Profiling of Flower Development Reveals Key Genes Mediating Yellow Formation in Tree Peony.
Phyton-International Journal of Experimental Botany, 91(11), 2505–2518.