Comparative Transcriptome Reveals Benzenoid Biosynthesis Regulation as Inducer of Floral Scent in the Woody Plant Prunus mume

Abstract

Mei (Prunus mume) is a peculiar woody ornamental plant famous for its inviting fragrance in winter. However, in this valuable plant, the mechanism behind floral volatile development remains poorly defined. Therefore, to explore the floral scent formation, a comparative transcriptome was conducted in order to identify the global transcripts specifying flower buds and blooming flowers of P. mume. Differentially expressed genes were identified between the two different stages showing great discrepancy in floral volatile production. Moreover, according to the expression specificity among the organs (stem, root, fruit, leaf), we summarized one gene cluster regulating the benzenoid floral scent. Significant gene changes were observed in accordance with the formation of benzenoid, thus pointing the pivotal roles of genes as well as cytochrome-P450s and short chain dehydrogenases in the benzenoid biosynthetic process. Further, transcription factors like EMISSION OF BENZENOID I and ODORANT I performed the same expression pattern suggesting key roles in the management of the downstream genes. Taken together, these data provide potential novel anchors for the benzenoid pathway, and the insight for the floral scent induction and regulation mechanism in woody plants.

Comparative transcriptome and coexpression network analysis of carpel quantitative variation in Paeonia rockii

“…Clustering pattern analysis of gene expression is commonly used in transcriptome research [34][35][36]. However, we found that some DEGs identified by clustering pattern in this study were differentially expressed in both cultivars of P. rockii, which limited the identification of specific factors.…”

“…RNA-seq technology is an important method to obtain effective functional genes in crops, especially for crops without reference genomic information. At present, RNA-seq has been widely used to study floral organ development in woody plants [32][33][34][35][36]. With the development of highthroughput sequencing technology, numerous studies have been carried out by SMLRS or in combination with NGS technology.…”

Metabolic, Enzymatic Activity, and Transcriptomic Analysis Reveals the Mechanism Underlying the Lack of Characteristic Floral Scent in Apricot Mei Varieties

“…To further understand the different regulatory networks of volatile phenylpropanoids among the varieties, we analyzed the correlations between metabolites and transcripts in the five varieties. Previous transcriptome data from P. mume flower buds and blooming flowers (using the "Sanlun Yudie" variety as material, with a similar floral scent composition and release pattern to the "Beijing Yudie" variety) (Zhao et al, 2017) were also used to screen 1,444 transcripts from among 7,508 transcripts with at least four-fold differential expression between the two stages. The correlation analysis between six components detected in the intracellular pools and the 1,444 differentially expressed transcripts showed that 158 transcripts were highly correlated with metabolites (Supplementary Table 9).…”

Transcriptomic and proteomic approaches to explore the differences in monoterpene and benzenoid biosynthesis between scented and unscented genotypes of wintersweet

“…However, the genetic improvement of floral scent falls behind breeding research aimed at improving flower shapes and colors (Dudareva and Pichersky ). Nonetheless, because of increasing consumer demand, more studies are beginning to focus on scent traits (Jin et al , Yue et al , Dhandapani et al , Hu et al , Zhao et al ).…”

“…BD is oxidized into BA by aldehyde oxidases and/or aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDHs), which have been isolated and characterized from many plants (Liu and Schnable , Ibdah et al , Long et al ). The SHORT‐CHAIN DEHYDROGENASES/REDUCTASES (SDRs) might participate in the formation of BAlc from BD (Zhao et al ). Next, the diverse benzenoid compounds are formed by modifications such as methylation, hydroxylation and acetylation of BA or BAlc as a substrate.…”