De novo transcriptome sequencing and anthocyanin metabolite analysis reveals leaf color of Acer pseudosieboldianum in autumn

Abstract

Background Leaf color is an important ornamental trait of colored-leaf plants. The change of leaf color is closely related to the synthesis and accumulation of anthocyanins in leaves. Acer pseudosieboldianum is a colored-leaf tree native to Northeastern China, however, there was less knowledge in Acer about anthocyanins biosynthesis and many steps of the pathway remain unknown to date. Results Anthocyanins metabolite and transcript profiling were conducted using HPLC and ESI-MS/MS system and high-throughput RNA sequencing respectively. The results demonstrated that five anthocyanins were detected in this experiment. It is worth mentioning that Peonidin O-hexoside and Cyanidin 3, 5-O-diglucoside were abundant, especially Cyanidin 3, 5-O-diglucoside displayed significant differences in content change at two periods, meaning it may be play an important role for the final color. Transcriptome identification showed that a total of 67.47 Gb of clean data were obtained from our sequencing results. Functional annotation of unigenes, including comparison with COG and GO databases, yielded 35,316 unigene annotations. 16,521 differentially expressed genes were identified from a statistical analysis of differentially gene expression. The genes related to leaf color formation including PAL, ANS, DFR, F3H were selected. Also, we screened out the regulatory genes such as MYB, bHLH and WD40. Combined with the detection of metabolites, the gene pathways related to anthocyanin synthesis were analyzed. Conclusions Cyanidin 3, 5-O-diglucoside played an important role for the final color. The genes related to leaf color formation including PAL, ANS, DFR, F3H and regulatory genes such as MYB, bHLH and WD40 were selected. This study enriched the available transcriptome information for A. pseudosieboldianum and identified a series of differentially expressed genes related to leaf color, which provides valuable information for further study on the genetic mechanism of leaf color expression in A. pseudosieboldianum.

Integrated transcriptome and metabolome profiling of Camellia reticulata reveal mechanisms of flower color differentiation

“…Numerous studies have revealed that carotenoids, flavonoids, and alkaloids are among the most important pigments that contribute to the development of flower colors ( Wang et al, 2001 ; Ma et al, 2018 ; Zhu et al, 2019 ). Particularly, carotenoids and flavonoids have garnered increasing interest as they are pigments extensively dispersed in plants and are responsible for the spectacular hues found in petals ( Mekapogu et al, 2020 ; Cui et al, 2021 ; Gao et al, 2021 ; Mei et al, 2021 ). Carotenoids can cause flowers to display a wide spectrum of colors, from vivid red to orange to yellow ( Clotault et al, 2008 ; Tanaka et al, 2008 ; Zhao and Tao, 2015 ).…”

Metabolome and Transcriptome Analyses Unravels Molecular Mechanisms of Leaf Color Variation by Anthocyanidin Biosynthesis in Acer triflorum

“…Seven anthocyanin compounds including cyanidin-3-Oglucoside, pelargonidin 3-O-glucoside, and cyanidin 3-O-rutinoside were identified in deep pink colored petals of roses, while these metabolites were not detected in light pink colored petals [37]. In addition, cyanidin 3,5-O-diglucoside was reported as the main compound involved in the red leaf phenotype [35]. At the same time, cyanidin 3-O-arabinoside, peonidin 3-O-glucoside, and pelargonidin 3-O-glucoside, as predominant metabolites in anthocyanin biosynthesis pathway of A. triflorum, were regulated by numerous DEGs; each of them were associated with 28,520, 18,916, and 17,979 DEGs, respectively (r > 0.8) (Supplementary Table S9).…”

“…Leaf color is a trait that influences the ornamental value of urban trees, and anthocyanin accumulation plays a critical role in leaf color change [29,30]. Until now, several genes and enzymes that played a key role in color development of plant leaves and anthocyanin accumulation have been described in Aceraceae species, including A. rubrum [31,32], A. palmatum [33,34], and A. pseudosieboldianum [35]. However, pigment composition and the structural genes of the metabolic pathway varied across species.…”

Chromosome-Level Genome Assembly for Acer pseudosieboldianum and Highlights to Mechanisms for Leaf Color and Shape Change

“…Acer pseudosieboldianum (commonly known as Korean Maple), with chromosome numbers 2 n = 2 x = 26, is a precious deciduous tree and is only naturally distributed in Northeast China, the Russian Far East and the northern Korean Peninsula ( Kim and Kim, 2016 ; Gao et al, 2021 ). As an important colored-leaf plant, it has been used for landscaping because of its beautiful samara and extremely red leaves in autumn ( Figure 1 ); thus, it is considered one of the most promising native tree species for landscaping in Northeast China.…”