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Metabolomics Analysis Reveals the Role of Cyanidin Metabolism in Plumbago auriculata Flower Color

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Abstract

Blue flowers, which are rare, have long been a focus for researchers engaged in colored flower breeding. In this study, Plumbago auriculata, a plant with blue flowers, and its white flower forma Plumbago auriculata f. alba were used as research materials. Flower color quantification, environmental scanning electron microscopy (ESEM) observation of petal epidermal cells, and determination of the cell sap pH were carried out; moreover, metabolomic analysis was used to analyze the flavonoid metabolites of both types of petals. The results showed that the flower color of P. auriculata was bluish violet, and there was no significant difference in the epidermal cell distribution of the white and blue petals. The key substance that determined the bluish violet flower color was cyanidin-3-O-(6″-p-coumaroylglucoside) (Cy3-pC·G). Compared to the white petal cells, the blue petal cells exhibited up to 40 upregulated flavonoid compounds that were copigments. Together with the significantly increased pH (5.92 ± 0.12) of the petal cell sap, these copigments affected the color presentation of Cy3-pC·G, causing the final petal color of P. auriculata to be bluish violet. The results of this study indicate that cyanidin is an important anthocyanidin in blue flowers, which provides new insights into the breeding of blue flowers.

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Abbreviations

CHI:

Chalcone isomerase

CHS:

Chalcone synthase

Cy3-pC·G:

Cyanidin-3-O-(6″-p-coumaroylglucoside)

ESEM:

Environmental scanning electron microscopy

F3′5′H :

Flavonoid 3′,5′-hydroxylase

F3′H :

Flavonoid 3′-monooxygenase

FC:

Fold change

FFA:

Formalin-acetic acid-alcohol

KEGG:

Kyoto encyclopedia of genes and genomes

PCA:

Principal component analysis

QC:

Quality control

UPLC–MS/MS:

Ultraperformance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry

VIP:

Variable importance in projection

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by Yuanxiang Hang from Sichuan Tianyi Ecological Garden Group Co. Ltd.

Funding

This work was supported by the Sichuan Science and Technology Program (2016NYZ0038).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Landscape Architecture, Sichuan Agricultural University, No. 211 Huimin Road, Wenjiang District, Chengdu, 611130, China

    Yurong Li, Wenji Li, Ting Lei, ** Shen, Jiani Li & Su** Gao

  2. The Fine Arts College of Sichuan Normal University, No.1819 ChengLong Avenue, Longquanyi District, Chengdu, 610101, China

    Di Hu

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  1. Yurong Li
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  2. Wenji Li
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  3. Di Hu
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  5. ** Shen
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  6. Jiani Li
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  7. Su** Gao
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Contributions

Data curation, YL; formal analysis, WL and DH; methodology, YL and SG; project administration, SG; validation, TL; writing–original draft, WL; writing–review and editing, JL and PS.

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Correspondence to Su** Gao.

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Li, Y., Li, W., Hu, D. et al. Metabolomics Analysis Reveals the Role of Cyanidin Metabolism in Plumbago auriculata Flower Color. J. Plant Biol. 64, 253–265 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12374-021-09305-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12374-021-09305-6

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