Autumn Leaves of <i>Ginkgo biloba</i> L.: Optical Properties, Pigments and Optical Brighteners

Matile, Philippe; Flach, Barbara M.‐P.; Eller, B. M.

doi:10.1111/j.1438-8677.1992.tb00261.x

Cited by 55 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…Despite the spectacular color, the mechanism underlying leaf coloration in G. bilob a remains poorly understood. In an early study of G. biloba , Matile et al 11 . reported that spectral optical properties change due to retention of carotenoids in yellow leaves in the autumn.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cytological, physiological, and transcriptomic analyses of golden leaf coloration in Ginkgo biloba L

Yang

et al. 2018

Hortic Res

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Ginkgo biloba is grown worldwide as an ornamental plant for its golden leaf color. However, the regulatory mechanism of leaf coloration in G. biloba remains unclear. Here, we compared G. biloba gold-colored mutant leaves and normal green leaves in cytological, physiological and transcriptomic terms. We found that chloroplasts of the mutant were fewer and smaller, and exhibited ruptured thylakoid membranes, indistinct stromal lamellae and irregularly arranged vesicles. Physiological experiments also showed that the mutant had a lower chlorophyll, lower flavonoid and higher carotenoid contents (especially lutein). We further used transcriptomic sequencing to identify 116 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and 46 transcription factors (TFs) involved in chloroplast development, chlorophyll metabolism, pigment biosynthesis and photosynthesis. Among these, the chlorophyll biosynthesis-related PPO showed down-regulation, while chlorophyll degradation-related NYC/NOL had up-regulated expression in mutant leaves. Z-ISO, ZDS, and LCYE, which are involved in carotenoid biosynthesis were up-regulated. Quantitative real-time PCR (RT-qPCR) further confirmed the altered expression levels of these genes at three stages. The alteration of PPO and NYC/NOL gene expression might affect chlorophyll biosynthesis and promote degradation of chlorophyll b to chlorophyll a, while the up-regulated genes Z-ISO, ZDS and LCYE enhanced carotenoid accumulation. Consequently, changes in the ratio of carotenoids to chlorophylls were the main factors driving the golden leaf coloration in the mutant G. biloba.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cytological, physiological, and transcriptomic analyses of golden leaf coloration in Ginkgo biloba L

Yang

et al. 2018

Hortic Res

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“…Autumn colours are produced (Sanger, 1971;Matile, 2000;Lee and Gould, 2002) by two main classes of compound: carotenoids (yellow-orange) and anthocyanins (red-purple), although in some cases other pigments are used (for example 6-hydroxykynurenic acid for the brilliant yellow of Ginkgo biloba; Matile et al, 1992). Whereas carotenoids are present all year round and become visible during leaf senescence because of the degradation of chlorophyll (Biswal, 1995), anthocyanins are actively produced in autumn (Sanger, 1971;Lee and Gould, 2002).…”

Section: Autumn Coloursmentioning

confidence: 99%

Phylogenetic analysis reveals a scattered distribution of autumn colours

Archetti

2009

Annals of Botany

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“…In addition to di¡erential pigment decomposition, colour change also results from the synthesis of new compounds. A number of £uorescent compounds and optical brighteners have been recorded only in autumn leaves (Duggelin et al 1988;Matile et al 1992). The case against a simple economy is even stronger for the anthocyanin reds and purples because they are manufactured in often massive quantities in autumn leaves (Boyer et al 1988;Ji et al 1992), suggesting a major energetic cost to red autumnal colour.…”

Section: (A) Autumn Coloration Is Expensivementioning

confidence: 99%

Autumn tree colours as a handicap signal

Hamilton

Brown

2001

Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B

265

309

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Many species of deciduous trees display striking colour changes in autumn. Here, we present a functional hypothesis: bright autumn coloration serves as an honest signal of defensive commitment against autumn colonizing insect pests. According to this hypothesis, individuals within a signalling species show variation in the expression of autumn coloration, with defensively committed trees producing a more intense display. Insects are expected to be averse to the brightest tree individuals and, hence, preferentially colonize the least defensive hosts. We predicted that tree species su¡ering greater insect damage would, on average, invest more in autumn-colour signalling than less troubled species. Here, we show that autumn coloration is stronger in species facing a high diversity of damaging specialist aphids. Aphids are likely to be an important group of signal receivers because they are choosy, damaging and use colour cues in host selection. In the light of further aspects of insect and tree biology, these results support the notion that bright autumn colours are expensive handicap signals revealing the defensive commitment of individual trees to autumn colonizing insect pests.

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Autumn Leaves of Ginkgo biloba L.: Optical Properties, Pigments and Optical Brighteners

Cited by 55 publications

References 9 publications

Cytological, physiological, and transcriptomic analyses of golden leaf coloration in Ginkgo biloba L

Cytological, physiological, and transcriptomic analyses of golden leaf coloration in Ginkgo biloba L

Phylogenetic analysis reveals a scattered distribution of autumn colours

Autumn tree colours as a handicap signal

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