Abstract
Plant genomes appear to exploit the process of gene duplication as a primary means of acquiring biochemical and developmental flexibility. The best example is the gene encoding chalcone synthase (CHS, EC2.3.1.74), the first committed step in flavonoid biosynthesis. In this study, we examined the molecular evolution of three CHS family members of Phalaenopsis including a novel chs gene (phchs5), which is slowly evolved. The inferred phylogeny of the chs genes of Phalaenopsis with other two orchid plants, Bromoheadia finlaysoniana and Dendrobium hybrid, suggested that gene duplication and divergence have occurred before divergence of these three genera. Relatively quantitative RT-PCR analysis identified expression patterns of these three chs genes in different floral tissues at different developmental stages. Phchs5 was the most abundantly expressed chs gene in floral organs and it was specifically transcribed in petal and lip at the stages when anthocyanin accumulated (stage1–4). Phchs3 and phchs4 were expressed at much lower levels than phchs5. Phchs3 was expressed in pigmented tissue (including lip, petal and sepal) at middle stages (stages 2–4) and in colorless reproductive tissue at late stage (stage 5). Phchs4 was only expressed in petal at earlier stages (stage 1–3) and in lip at middle stage (stage 4). These results present new data on differentiation of gene expression among duplicate copies of chs genes in Phalaenopsis.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Abbreviations
- CHS:
-
chalcone synthase
- PCR:
-
polymerase chain reaction
- RT:
-
reverse transcriptase
References
Axelsen KB, Palmgren MG (1998) Evolution of substrate specificities in the P-type ATPase superfamilies. J Mol Evol 46:84–101
Brown JW (1986) A catalogue of splice junction and putative branch point sequences from plant introns. Nucleic Acids Res 14:9549–9559
Dixon RA (1986) The phytoalexins reponse: elicitation, signaling, and control of host gene expression. Biol Rev 61:239–291
Durbin ML, Learn GHG, Clegg MT (1995) Evolution of the chalcone synthase gene family in the genus Ipomoea. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 92:3338–3342
Durbin ML, McCaig B, Clegg MT (2000) Molecular evolution of the chalcone synthase multigene family in the morning glory. Plant Mol Biol 42:79–92
Feinbaum RL, Ausubel FM (1988) Transcriptional regulation of the Arabidopsis thaliana chalcone sythase gene. Mol Cell Biol 8:985–1992
Ferrer JL, Jez JM, Bowman ME (1999) Structure of chalcone synthase and the molecular basis of plant polyketide biosynthesis. Nat Struct Biol 6:775–784
Habu Y, Hisatomi Y, Iida S (1998) Molecular characterization of the mutable flaked allele for flower variegation in the common morning glory. Plant J 16:371–376
Han YY, Ming F, Wang JW, Ye MM, Shen DL (2005) Molecular characterization and functional analysis of a novel chalcone synthase gene from Phalaenopsis Orchid in transgenic tobacco. Plant Mol Biol Rep 23:193–193
Han YY, Ming F, Wang JW, Wen JG, Ye MM, Shen DL (2006) Cloning and characterization of a novel chalcone synthase gene from Phalaenopsis hybrida Orchid flowers. Russ J Plant Physiol 53:250–258
Helariutta Y, Kotilainen M, Elomaa P, Kalkkinen N, Bremer K, Teeri TH, Albert VA (1996) Duplication and functional divergence in the chalcone synthase gene family of Asteraceae: evolution with substrate change and catalytic simplification. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 93:9033–9038
Helariutta Y, Elomma P, Kotilainen M, Griesbach RJ, Schroder J, Teeri TH (1995) Chalcone synthase-like genes active during corolla development are differentially expressed and encode enzyme with different catalytic properties in Gerbera hybrida (Asteraceae). Plant Mol Biol 28:47–60
Heller W, Hahlbrock B (1980) Highly purified ‘flavanone synthase’ from parsley catalyzes the formation if naringenin chalcone. Arch Biochem Biophys 200:617–619
Ito M, Ichinose Y, Kato H, Shiraishi T, Yamada T (1997) Molecular evolution and functional relevance of the chalcone synthase genes of pea. Mol Gen Genet 255:28–37
Koes RE, Spelt CE, Mol JN (1989) The chalcone synthase multigene family of Petunia hybrida(V30): differential, light-regulated expression during flower development and UV light induction. Plant Mol Biol 12:213–225
Kumar S, Tamura K, Jakobsen IB, Nei M (2001) MEGA2: molecular evolutionary genetics analysis software. Arizona State University, Tempe, Ariz
Li WH (1993) Ubiased estimation of the rates of synonymous and nonsynonymous nucleotide substitution. J Mol Evol 36:96–99
Li WH (1997) Molecular evolution. Sinauer Associate, Inc., Sunderland, Mass
Muse SV, Gaut BS (1994) A likelihood approach for comparing synonymous and nonsynonymous nucleotide substitution rates with application to the chloroplast genome. Mol Biol Evol 3:418–426
Nei M, Gojobori T (1986) Simple methods for estimating the number of synonymous and nonsynonymous nucleotide substitutions. Mol Biol Evol 3:418–426
Preisig-Mülller, Gnau P, Kindl H (1995) The inducible 9,10 dihydrophenanthrene pathway; characterization and expression of bibenzyl synthase and S-adenosylhomocysteine hydrolase. Arch Biochem Biophys 317:201–207
Robinson-Rechavi M, Huchon D (2000) RRTree: relative rate tests between groups of sequence on a phylogenetic tree. Bioinformatics 16:296–297
Ryder TB, Hedrick SA, Bell JN, Liang X, Clouse SD, Lamb CJ (1987) Orgnization and differential activation of a gene family encoding the plant defence enzyme chalcone synthase in Phaseolus vulgaris. Mol Gen Genet 210:219–233
Saitou N, Nei M (1987) The neighbour-joining method: a new method for reconstructing phylogenetic trees. Mol Biol Evol 4:406–425
Schmelzer E, Jahnen W, Hahlbrock K (1988) In situ localization of light-induced chalcone synthase mRNA, chalcone synthase and flavonoid end products in epidermal cells of parsley leaves. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 85:2989–2993
Shiokawa K, Inagaki Y, Mor H, Hsu T, Iida S, Noguchi H (2000) The functional expression of the CHS-D and CHS-E genes of the common morning glory(Ipomoea purpurea) in Escherichia coli and characterization of their gene products. Plant Biotechnol 17:203–210
Sommer H, Saedler H (1986) Structure of the chalcone synthase gene of Antirrhinum majus. Mol Gen Genet 202:429–434
Taylor LP, Jorgensen R (1992) Conditional male fertility in chalcone synthase-deficient petunia. J Heredity 831:1–17
Thompson JD, Higgins DG, Gibson TJ (1994) Clustal W: improving the sensitivity of progressive multiple sequence alignment through sequence weighting matrix choice. Nucl Acids Res 22:4673–4680
Wang J, Qu L, Chen J, Gu H, Chen J (2000) Molecular evolution of the exon2 of CHS genes and the possibility of its application to plant phylogenetic analysis. Chinese Sci Bull 45:1735–1742
Wingerder R, Rohrig H, Horicke C, Wing D, Schell J (1989) Differential regulation of a soybean chalcone synthase genes in plant defence, symbiosis and upon environmental stimuli. Mol Gen Genet 218:315–322
Yang J, Huang J, Gu H, Zhong Y, Yang Z (2002) Duplication and adaptive evolution of the chalcone synthase genes of Dendranthema (Asteraceae). Mol Biol Evol 19:1752–1759
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
An erratum to this article is available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10709-009-9413-8.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Han, YY., Ming, F., Wang, W. et al. Molecular evolution and functional specialization of chalcone synthase superfamily from Phalaenopsis Orchid. Genetica 128, 429–438 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10709-006-7668-x
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10709-006-7668-x