Open Access

ARTICLE

Transcriptomic Analysis Reveals the Formation Mechanism of Anthocyanins Light-Independent Synthesis in Chrysanthemum

by Fangye Liu^1,#, Jiaping Qu^1,#, Yajun Li¹, Jiawei Fan¹, Yumeng Cui¹, Jingwen Wu¹, Xueqi Gu¹, Xia Li^2,*, He Huang^1,*

1 Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Tree Breeding by Molecular Design, Beijing Key Laboratory of Ornamental Plants Germplasm Innovation & Molecular Breeding, National Engineering Research Center for Floriculture, Beijing Laboratory of Urban and Rural Ecological Environment, Key Laboratory of Genetics and Breeding in Forest Trees and Ornamental Plants of Education Ministry, School of Landscape Architecture, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing, 100083, China
2 Urban Construction School, Beijing City University, Beijing, 100083, China

* Corresponding Authors: Xia Li. Email: ; He Huang. Email:

(This article belongs to the Special Issue: Plant Secondary Metabolism and Functional Biology)

Phyton-International Journal of Experimental Botany 2024, 93(7), 1599-1621. https://doi.org/10.32604/phyton.2024.051386

Received 04 March 2024; Accepted 29 May 2024; Issue published 30 July 2024

Abstract

Chrysanthemum × morifolium is a horticultural crop which plays a vital role in the flower industry with significant economic value and has a cultivation history of over three thousand years in China. The accumulation of anthocyanins is always affected by light. Here, we revealed that anthocyanin accumulation is highly dependent on light in ‘2021135’ genotype chrysanthemum, while it is light-independent in ‘2001402’ genotype chrysanthemum. However, no literature has been reported regarding the non-photosensitive chrysanthemum in anthocyanins light-independent synthesis pathways. Through the phenotype analysis of 44 F generations, we found that light-independence is a dominant trait which can be stable inherited by progeny. The transcriptome of the ray florets of ‘2021135’ and ‘2001402’ under light and bagging treatment were sequenced and analyzed. Based on weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA), K-means analysis, and Real-Time Quantitative Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-qPCR) analysis, 16 genes were highly correlated with the anthocyanin content. The anthocyanin content of ray florets treated with different light-quality conditions indicated that blue light significantly affected anthocyanin accumulations. Through Yeast one-hybrid analysis, CmBIC1.1 and CmBIC1.2 can directly regulate the anthocyanin structural gene CmCHS2. In our study, we revealed the important characteristics of light-independent anthocyanin synthesis in chrysanthemums and screened regulatory factors in light-dependent and light-independent anthocyanin synthesis pathways. The results laid the groundwork for subsequent analysis of the molecular mechanism involved in the light-independent synthesis of anthocyanins in chrysanthemums.

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Supplementary Material

Supplementary Material File

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