| Abstract Detail
Thursday Morning Contributed Talks Haring, MA [1], Verdonk, JC [2], Van Moerkercke, A [1], Schuurink, RC [1]. Regulation of floral scent biosynthesis in Petunia hybrida. THE scent of flowers from the petunia cultivar “Mitchell” consists mainly of phenylpropanoid derived volatiles. We have studied the biosynthetic pathway for benzenoids in petunia flowers using a combined transcriptomics / metabolomics approach. In this way we have been able to identify several biosynthetic genes. Simultaneously, we identified a MYB-type transcription factor (ODORANT1) that is expressed in parallel with the changes in floral scent production. Its petal-specific expression supports the hypothesis that this gene can be involved in regulating benzenoid pathway expression. Our RNAi experiments revealed that suppression of ODORANT1 strongly reduces the synthesis of volatile benzenoids. Its suppression results in concomitant suppression of genes from the floral shikimate pathway, indicating that regulation occurs at the level of precursor biosynthesis. Through crosses with colored varieties we have demonstrated that scent and color production are not mutually exclusive. From our transcriptome analysis we have several other candidate genes involved in metabolite transport, volatile biosynthesis and transcriptional regulation. Several of the genes are conserved throughout the Solanaceae family. An overview of these related pathways will be presented.
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1 - University of Amsterdam, SILS, Plant Physiology, Kruislaan 318, Amsterdam, NL-1098SM, Netherlands
2 - University of Florida, Environmental Horticulture Department, Box 110670, Gainesville, Florida, 32611, USA
Keywords:
floral scent
MYB transcription factor
benzenoids
Petunia.
Session: SOL06-6
Location: Ballroom AB/Monona Terrace
Date: Thursday, July 27th, 2006
Time: 9:50 AM
Abstract ID:370 |
