Abstract
Key message
Chrysanthemum morifolium MYB3 factors are transcriptional activators for the regulation of flavonol biosynthesis.
Abstract
Flavonol was not only the critical secondary metabolite participating in the growth and development of plants but also the main active ingredient in medicinal chrysanthemum. However, few pieces of research revealed the transcriptional regulation of flavonol biosynthesis in Chrysanthemum morifolium. Here, we isolated two CmMYB3 transcription factors (CmMYB3a and CmMYB3b) from the capitulum of Chrysanthemum morifolium cv ‘Hangju’. According to the sequence characteristics, the CmMYB3a and CmMYB3b belonged to the R2R3-MYB subgroup 7, whose members were often reported to regulate flavonol biosynthesis positively. CmMYB3a and CmMYB3b factors were identified to localize in the nucleus by subcellular localization assay. Besides, both of them have obvious transcriptional self-activation activity in their C-terminal. After the overexpression of CmMYB3 genes in Nicotiana benthamiana and Arabidopsis thaliana, the flavonol contents in plants were increased, and the expression of AtCHS, AtCHI, AtF3H, and AtFLS genes in A. thaliana was also improved. Interestingly, the CmMYB3a factor had stronger functions in improving flavonol contents and related gene expression levels than CmMYB3b. The interaction analysis between transcription factors and promoters suggested that CmMYB3 could bind and activate the promoters of CmCHI and CmFLS genes in C. morifolium, and CmMYB3a also functioned more powerfully. Overall, these results indicated that CmMYB3a and CmMYB3b work as transcriptional activators in controlling flavonol biosynthesis.
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Data availability statement
The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
Abbreviations
- CHI:
-
Chalcone isomerase
- CHS:
-
Chalcone synthase
- DFR:
-
Dihydroflavonol 4-reductase
- DPBA:
-
Diphenylboric acid-2-aminoethyl ester
- F3H:
-
Flavanone 3-hydroxylase
- F3'H:
-
Flavonoid 3'-hydroxylase
- FLS:
-
Flavonol synthase
- FNS:
-
Flavone synthase
- PAL:
-
Phenylalanine ammonia-lyase
- SG7:
-
Subgroup 7
- TFs:
-
Transcription factors
- TFC:
-
The total flavonoids content
- UFGT:
-
UDP-glycose flavonoid glycosyltransferase
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Acknowledgements
This study was financially supported by grants from the Earmarked fund for Jiangsu Agricultural Industry Technology System (No. JATS [2021] 460), the Opening Project of Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Resources Protection and Innovation of Traditional Chinese Medicine (No. 2021E10013), and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 81503180).
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QSG and TW: planned and designed the research. FY: performed the experiments, analysed the data and wrote the manuscript. QJZ and SYY: participated in experiments and data collection. All the authors read and approved the contents of the manuscript.
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Yang, F., Wang, T., Guo, Q. et al. The CmMYB3 transcription factors isolated from the Chrysanthemum morifolium regulate flavonol biosynthesis in Arabidopsis thaliana. Plant Cell Rep 42, 791–803 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00299-023-02991-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00299-023-02991-1