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ARS Home » Southeast Area » New Orleans, Louisiana » Southern Regional Research Center » Commodity Utilization Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #382677
Research Project: Development of Novel Cottonseed Products and Processes

Location: Commodity Utilization Research

Title: The red flower wintersweet genome provides insights into the evolution of magnoliids and the molecular mechanism for tepal color development

Author
item SHEN, ZHIGUO - Central South University Of Forestry And Technology
item LI, WENYING - Central South University Of Forestry And Technology
item LI, YANLI - Central South University Of Forestry And Technology
item LIU, MEILAN - Central South University Of Forestry And Technology
item Cao, Heping
item PROVART, NICHOLAS - University Of Toronto
item DING, XIN - Henan Academy Of Forestry
item SUN, MENG - Henan Academy Of Forestry
item TANG, ZHENGHUI - Henan Academy Of Forestry
item YUE, CHANGPING - Forestry Research Institute Of Yanling County
item CAO, YUNPENG - Central South University Of Forestry And Technology
item YUAN, DEYI - Central South University Of Forestry And Technology
item ZHANG, LIN - Central South University Of Forestry And Technology

Submitted to: The Plant Journal
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 10/1/2021
Publication Date: 12/18/2021
Citation: Shen, Z., Li, W., Li, Y., Liu, M., Cao, H., Provart, N., Ding, X., Sun, M., Tang, Z., Yue, C., Cao, Y., Yuan, D., Zhang, L. 2021. The red flower wintersweet genome provides insights into the evolution of magnoliids and the molecular mechanism for tepal color development. The Plant Journal. 108(6):1662-1678. https://doi.org/10.1111/tpj.15533.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/tpj.15533

Interpretive Summary: Flower color plays a decisive role in the ornamental and economic value of most ornamental plants. Breeding new flower color varieties is one of the main goals of ornamental plant breeding. The overall color of wintersweet is mainly determined by the middle tepals, which is usually yellow or light yellow. In the previous investigation of wintersweet germplasms, we found the new resource type of wintersweet named ‘red flower wintersweet’; its inner and middle tepals are basically all red in full blossom. In this study, we performed a whole-genome sequencing of a newly released cultivar C. praecox ‘Hongyun’ and obtained a high-quality chromosome-level genome. Subsequently, we redefined the evolutionary position of magnoliids by using comparative analyses of the wintersweet genome with those of the other six magnoliids, monocots and eudicots, and other representative angiosperms. Finally, we explored the coloring mechanism of wintersweet based on the transcriptomic and metabolic data. The present study not only provided novel insights into the magnoliids evolution and the molecular mechanism for flower color development, but also laid the foundation for subsequent functional genomics study and molecular breeding of wintersweet.

Technical Abstract: Wintersweet (Chimonanthus praecox) is one of the most important ornamental plants with unique winter-flowering characteristics. In this study, the whole genome of red flower wintersweet, a new wintersweet type, was sequenced and assembled with high-quality. The genome comprised 11 super-scaffolds (chromosomes) with a total size of 737.03 Mb. Based on the analyses of the long branch attraction (LBA), incomplete lineage sorting (ILS), sparse taxon sampling and other factors, the bifurcating tree might not fully represent the complex early diversification of the angiosperms, whereas magnoliids were most likely to be the sister of the eudicots. The wintersweet genome underwent two rounds of whole-genome duplication (WGD) events: a younger WGD event representing independent event specific to the Calycanthaceae species; an ancient WGD event shared by Laurales. By integrating genomic, transcriptomic, and metabolomic data, CpANS1 and transcription factors such as MYBs, bHLHs and WD40s were considered to play key roles in regulating the dynamics of wintersweet flower coloration, whereas CpMYB1 might determine the flower color differences among different wintersweet groups. The present study not only provided novel insights into the magnoliids evolution and the molecular mechanism for flower color development, but also laid the foundation for subsequent functional genomics study and molecular breeding of wintersweet.