Carotenoid metabolite and transcriptome dynamics underlying flower color in marigold (Tagetes erecta L.)

Abstract

Marigold (Tagetes erecta L.) is an important ornamental plant with a wide variety of flower colors. Despite its economic value, few biochemical and molecular studies have explored the generation of flower color in this species. To study the mechanism underlying marigold petal color, we performed a metabolite analysis and de novo cDNA sequencing on the inbred line ‘V-01’ and its petal color mutant ‘V-01M’ at four flower developmental stages. A total of 49,217 unigenes were identified from 24 cDNA libraries. Based on our metabolites and transcriptomic analyses, we present an overview of carotenoid biosynthesis, degradation, and accumulation in marigold flowers. The carotenoid content of the yellow mutant ‘V-01M’ was higher than that of the orange inbred line ‘V-01’, and the abundances of the yellow compounds lutein, neoxanthin, violaxanthin, zeaxanthin, and antheraxanthin were significantly higher in the mutant. During flower development, the carotenoid biosynthesis genes were upregulated in both ‘V-01’ and ‘V-01M’, with no significant differences between the two lines. By contrast, the carotenoid degradation genes were dramatically downregulated in the yellow mutant ‘V-01M’. We therefore speculate that the carotenoid degradation genes are the key factors regulating the carotenoid content of marigold flowers. Our research provides a large amount of transcriptomic data and insights into the marigold color metabolome.

Transcriptome and carotenoid profiling of different varieties of Coffea arabica provides insights into fruit color formation

“…Fruit pigmentation is a major quality trait that influences consumer preference and correlates directly with nutritional composition and health benefit ( Yuan et al, 2015 ; Zhang et al, 2020 ; Jiang et al, 2021 ). As a result, fruit coloration and its pigmentations have been a major focus of research among scholars ( Petropoulos et al, 2019 ).…”

“… Welsch et al (2007) showed that the PSY binding factor (AP2/ERF), RAP2.2, binds to the Arabidopsis thaliana -APETALA2 (AP2) and PDS promoters. The knockdown mutant was shown to have a decreased PSY and PDS expression and lowers its carotenoid content by 30% ( Welsch et al, 2007 ; Zhang et al, 2020 ). There has also been evidence that a Phytochrome-Interacting Factor (PIF) binds to and inhibits PSY promoter expression ( Li et al, 2010 ).…”

“…These transcription factors generally regulate the accumulation of carotenoids in plants. Zhang et al (2020) revealed recently in a transcriptome study that carotenoid degradation genes are key determinants of carotenoid content of marigold flowers. Flavonoids, which are phenolic compounds determine flower, fruit, and seed color in a variety of plant species ( Falcone Ferreyra et al., 2012 ; Rashid et al, 2019 ).…”

Antibacterial Activity of Marigold Flower (Tagetes Erecta L.) Ethanol Extract Cream Against Staphylococcus Aureus

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Enzymatic acylation of lutein with a series of saturated fatty acid vinyl esters and the thermal stability and anti‐lipid oxidation properties of the acylated derivatives

“…Lutein, a representative fat‐soluble natural pigment, is listed as one of the food colorants by the European Union with the E code as E 161 b (Martins et al., 2016). Lutein also has a broad range of bioactivities including antioxidant, anti‐inflammation, anti‐cancer, neuroprotective effect, and anti‐cardiovascular diseases (Arunkumar et al., 2013; Johnson, 2014; Madaan et al., 2017; Zhang et al., 2020). For example, it plays as an antioxidant by scavenging free radicals through the quenching of active oxygen (Madaan et al., 2017), or by preventing macular degeneration by absorbing the high‐energy blue light that reaches the eye (Weigel et al., 2018).…”