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Transcriptome analysis of flower color variation in five Rhododendron species (Ericaceae)

  • Genetics & Evolutionary Biology - Original Article
  • Published:
Brazilian Journal of Botany Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Rhododendron genus is famous with important ecology impacts, ornamental values, and high medicine values. To obtain a comprehensive overview of anthocyanin regulatory networks, RNA-seq and de novo assembly of five Rhododendron species flower tissues were performed, generating 159,408 unigenes with an average length of 490 bp and an N50 of 552 bp. In particular, 106,766 unigenes could be annotated. Flavonoid biosynthesis was the most abundant KEGG pathway. Genes controlling flower color varied in different species: transcripts involving in carotenoid biosynthesis and isoflavonoid biosynthesis highly expressed in Rhododendron molle G. Don possessing yellow color flower; genes involved in flavone and flavonol biosynthesis showed higher abundance in Rhododendron fortune Lindl. with light pink flowers; transcripts of unigenes participated in flavonoid biosynthesis exhibited higher levels in Rhododendron mariesii Hemsl. with pink color; unigenes involved in anthocyanin biosynthesis showed higher mRNA levels in Rhododendron simsii Planch. with red color; genes involved in carotenoid biosynthesis and flavonoid biosynthesis showed higher expression levels in Rhododendron pulchrum Sweet with purplish red flowers. The five species were clustered into two main groups: group 1 (R. fortune and R. mariesii) and group 2 (R. simsii, R. molle and R. pulchrum) based on expression levels of differentially expressed genes (DEGs). In particular, R. molle showed a closer relationship with R. simsii. This study will provide rich genetic information for further mechanism analysis of flower color variation and genetic improvement of flower color in Rhododendron species.

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Availability of data and materials

All sequence data generated or supported the findings of this study have been deposited in NCBI (Accession: SRS1967671).

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Acknowledgements

This research results reported in this paper are funded by National Natural Science Foundation of China (31500995), fund granted by Hubei Intellectual Property Bureau (2019-1-35), Open fund of Hubei Key Laboratory of Economic Forest Germplasm Improvement and Resources Comprehensive Utilization (201932103 and 201931503), and fund from Assessment and Comprehensive Utilization of Characteristic Biological resources in Dabie Mountains (4022019006).

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Author notes

  1. Zhiliang Li and Qiaofeng Yang contributed equally to this work

Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Agriculture, Yangtze University, Jingzhou, Hubei, 434000, People’s Republic of China

    Zhiliang Li & Wenying Zhang

  2. Hubei Key Laboratory of Economic Forest Germplasm Improvement and Resources Comprehensive Utilization; Hubei Collaborative Innovation Center for the Characteristic Resources Exploitation of Dabie Mountains; College of Life Sciences , Huanggang Normal University, Huanggang, Hubei, 438000, People’s Republic of China

    Zhiliang Li, Xue Dong, Yu Zhu, Shuang Zhao & Shuzhen Wang

  3. College of Food and Bioengineering, Henan University of Animal Husbandry and Economy, Zhengzhou, Henan, 450000, People’s Republic of China

    Qiaofeng Yang

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  1. Zhiliang Li
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Contributions

ZL and QY has performed the RNA-seq and data analysis and prepared the draft manuscript; XD and YZ also did statistical analysis; SZ carried out the qRT-PCR; WZ and SW designed the whole research, as well as wrote the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Wenying Zhang or Shuzhen Wang.

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Li, Z., Yang, Q., Dong, X. et al. Transcriptome analysis of flower color variation in five Rhododendron species (Ericaceae). Braz. J. Bot 44, 685–695 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40415-021-00720-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40415-021-00720-0

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