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Differential expression of carotenoid-related genes determines diversified carotenoid coloration in flower petal of Osmanthus fragrans

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Abstract

There are four Osmanthus fragrans cultivar groups, which exhibit significant inter-group differences in flower coloration. In this study, we analyzed carotenoid metabolites and the expression of carotenoid-biosynthetic genes in three O. fragrans cultivars differing substantially in flower coloration: 'Zi Yingui' (butter yellow), 'Jingui' (golden yellow), and 'Chenghong Dangui' (orange-red). The results of high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analysis show that 'Zi Yingui' petals contain small amounts of β-carotene, 'Jingui' petals have high levels of lutein as well as low levels of α-carotene and β-carotene, and 'Chenghong Dangui' petals accumulate considerable concentrations of α-carotene and β-carotene. Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) analysis of genes in the carotenoid synthesis and degradation pathways indicates that these genes have cultivar-specific modes of expression. OfHYB and OfZEP are more strongly expressed in 'Zi Yingui' and 'Jingui' petals than in 'Chenghong Dangui' petals, resulting in greater β-carotene concentrations in the latter. OfLCYE is most strongly expressed in 'Jingui' petals, leading to lutein accumulation. The overexpression of OfCCD1 and OfCCD4 in 'Zi Yingui' and 'Jingui' is responsible for the near non-existence of α-carotene and β-carotene in petals thereof. Methylation analysis of the promoter region of the OfCCD4 gene in 'Zi Yingui' and 'Chenghong Dangui' shows that 'Chenghong Dangui' has a methylation ratio of 50.18 %, higher than the 43.87 % of 'Zi Yingui'. The results of the present study indicates that O. fragrans cultivars vary in pigment composition and concentrations due to differential expressions of the downstream genes in the carotenoid synthesis pathway as well as the genes in the carotenoid degradation pathway.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by the National Natural Science Funds in China (No. 31270738) and Natural Science Funds of Education Department Henan Province (No. 13A180052)

Data archiving statement

We sent the entire OfPSY gene — 1,314 bp, encoding 438 amino acids — to the NCBI repositories and the accession number is JQ699273.

Partial cDNA of OfPDS, OfZDS, OfLCYE, OfLCYB, OfHYB, OfZEP and OfNCED, we sent to the NCBI repositories and the GenBank access numbers were KF701118, KF701119, KF701116, KF701115, KF701114, KF701120 and KF701117, respectively.

A 1,337-bp segment from upstream OfCCD4 gene's 5′-end, we sent to the NCBI repositories and the GenBank access number was KF701121.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Plant Stress Biology, State Key Laboratory of Cotton Biology, Laboratory of Plant Germplasm and Genetic Engineering, School of Life Sciences, Henan University, Kaifeng, 475004, Henan, China

    Yuanji Han, Xiaohui Wang, Weicai Chen, Meifang Dong, Wangjun Yuan, Xi Liu & Fude Shang

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  1. Yuanji Han
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  2. Xiaohui Wang
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  3. Weicai Chen
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  4. Meifang Dong
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  6. Xi Liu
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  7. Fude Shang
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Correspondence to Fude Shang.

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Communicated by A. Dandekar

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Han, Y., Wang, X., Chen, W. et al. Differential expression of carotenoid-related genes determines diversified carotenoid coloration in flower petal of Osmanthus fragrans . Tree Genetics & Genomes 10, 329–338 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11295-013-0687-8

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