Magnolias are widely cultivated for their beautiful flowers, but despite their popularity, the molecular mechanisms regulating flower bud differentiation have not been elucidated. Here, we used paraffin sections and RNA-seq to study the process of flower bud differentiation in Magnolia sinostellata. Flower bud development occurred between 28 April and 30 May 2017 and was divided into five stages: undifferentiated, early flower bud differentiation, petal primordium differentiation, stamen primordium differentiation, and pistil primordium differentiation. A total of 52,441 expressed genes were identified, of which 11,592 were significantly differentially expressed in the five bud development stages. Of these, 82 genes were involved in the flowering. In addition, MADS-box and AP2 family genes play critical roles in the formation of flower organs and 20 differentially expressed genes associated with flower bud differentiation were identified in M. sinostellata. A qRT-PCR analysis verified that the MADS-box and AP2 family genes were expressed at high levels during flower bud differentiation. Consequently, this study provides a theoretical basis for the genetic regulation of flowering in M. sinostellata, which lays a foundation for further research into flowering genes and may facilitate the development of new cultivars.

Magnolia (Magnoliaceae) is widely cultivated for its beauty; however, despite this, the components of the different flower colors in Magnolia have not been elucidated. In this study, the color parameters of 10 Magnolia petals with different colors were measured by the Royal Horticultural Society Color Chart (RHSCC) and a color reader CR-10. The composition and content of the flavonoids in the petals were analyzed by high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with diode array detection (HPLC-DAD) as well as HPLC with electrospray ionization and mass spectrometry (HPLC-ESI-MS2). All results showed that the 10 petals were divided into four color groups. Regarding the flavonoid composition, four types of anthocyanins, including Cyanidin-glucosyl-rhamnoside (Cy-GR), Cyanidin-glucosyl-rhamnosyl-glucoside (Cy-GRG), Peonidin-glucosyl-rhamnoside (Pn-GR), and Peonidin-glucosyl-rhamnosyl-glucoside (Pn-GRG), were identified, as well as 10 types of flavonols. The flavonols included isorhamnetin, quercetin, kaempferol, and their glycosides, which included rutinoside, rhamnose, and glucoside. Cyanidin and peonidin make Magnolia petals appear red-purple and purple, respectively, and the flavonols perform as evident auxiliary pigments, particularly quercetin. The Magnolia cultivar flower phenotypes sampled in this study differed by changes in their existing flavonoid content rather than by the appearance of new flavonoids. Consequently, this study provides a reference for further revealing the basis of Magnolia flower color and provides clues for color breeding.

Background Magnolia, a traditional and important ornamental plant in urban greening, has been cultivated for about 2000 years in China for its elegant flower shape and gorgeous flower color. Most varieties of Magnolia bloom once a year in spring, whereas a few others, such as Magnolia liliiflora Desr. ‘Hongyuanbao’, also bloom for the second time in summer or early autumn. Such a twice flowering trait is desirable for its high ornamental value, while its underlying mechanism remains unclear. Methods Paraffin section was used to show the flowering time and phenotypic changes of M. liliiflora ‘Hongyuanbao’ during the twice flowering periods from March 28 to August 25, 2018. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) was then performed to explore the chemical metabolites through the twice flower bud differentiation process in ‘Hongyuanbao’, and the metabolites were screened and identified by orthogonal projection to latent structures discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA). Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathway enrichment analysis (KEGG) was used to reveal the relationship between the sugar metabolites and twice-flowering characteristic. To further investigate the potential role of sucrose and trehalose on flowering regulation of ‘Hongyuanbao’, the plants once finished the spring flowering were regularly sprayed with sucrose and trehalose solutions at 30 mM, 60 mM, and 90 mM concentrations from April 22, 2019. The flower bud differentiation processes of sprayed plants were observed and the expression patterns of the genes involved in sucrose and trehalose metabolic pathways were studied by quantitative reverse transcription PCR (qRT-PCR). Results It showed that ‘Hongyuanbao’ could complete flower bud differentiation twice in a year and flowered in both spring and summer. The metabolites of flower bud differentiation had a significant variation between the first and second flower buds. Compared to the first flower bud differentiation process, the metabolites in the sucrose and trehalose metabolic pathways were significantly up-regulated during the second flower bud differentiation process. Besides that, the expression levels of a number of trehalose-6-phosphate synthase (TPS) genes including MlTPS1, MlTPS5, MlTPS6, MlTPS7 and MlTPS9 were substantially increased in the second flower differentiation process compared with the first process. Exogenous treatments indicated that compared to the control plants (sprayed with water, CK), all three concentrations of trehalose could accelerate flowering and the effect of 60 mM concentration was the most significant. For the sucrose foliar spray, only the 60 mM concentration accelerated flowering compared with CK. It suggested that different concentration of trehalose and sucrose might have different effects. Expression analysis showed that sucrose treatment increased the transcription levels of MlTPS5 and MlTPS6, whereas trehalose treatment increased MlTPS1, showing that different MlTPS genes took part in sucrose and trehalose metabolic pathways respectively. The expression levels of a number of flowering-related genes, such as MlFT, MlLFY, and MlSPL were also increased in response to the sprays of sucrose and trehalose. Conclusions We provide a novel insight into the effect of sucrose and trehalose on the flowering process in Magnolia. Under the different sugar contents treatments, the time of flower bud differentiation of Magnolia was advanced. Induced and accelerated flowering in response to sucrose and trehalose foliar spray, coupled with elevated expression of trehalose regulatory and response genes, suggests that secondary flower bud formation is a promoted by altered endogenous sucrose and trehalose levels. Those results give a new understanding of sucrose and trehalose on twice-flowering in Magnolia and provide a preliminary speculation for inducing and accelerating the flowering process in Magnolia.

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In this study, annual Magnolia denudata seedlings were treated with a 200 mmol L −1 NaCl solution. Na + content in its stems increased by more than about 24 times after 72 h and K + content in leaves basically maintained in a steady state. MdeSOS1, isolated from M. denudata, comprised a 3453-bp ORF and included 12 transmembrane structures within its N terminal and a hydrophilic tail in its Cterminal. Its protein shared the identity of 68.3% and 62.7% at the peptide level with the homologue PeSOS1 and AtSOS1 respectively. The MdeSOS1 was significantly induced to upregulation in various tissues exposed to salt stress and improved the salt tolerance of Arabidopsis. Our results also revealed that the MdeSOS1-GFP fusion protein was located on the plasma membrane and MdeSOS1 encoded a salt-inducible plasma membrane Na + /H + antiporter, which provides a reference to improve the salt tolerance of Magnolia species by transgenic approaches.