Deep sequencing of the Camellia chekiangoleosa transcriptome revealed candidate genes for anthocyanin biosynthesis.
Camellia chekiangoleosa is an important species of genus Camellia. It provides high-quality edible oil and has great ornamental value. The flowers are big and red which bloom between February and March. Flower pigmentation is closely related to the accumulation of anthocyanin. Although anthocyanin biosynthesis has been studied extensively in herbaceous plants, little molecular information on the anthocyanin biosynthesis pathway of C. chekiangoleosa is yet known. In the present study, a cDNA library was constructed to obtain detailed and general data from the flowers of C. chekiangoleosa. To explore the transcriptome of C. chekiangoleosa and investigate genes involved in anthocyanin biosynthesis, a 454 GS FLX Titanium platform was used to generate an EST dataset. About 46,279 sequences were obtained, and 24,593 (53.1%) were annotated. Using Blast search against the AGRIS, 1740 unigenes were found homologous to 599 Arabidopsis transcription factor genes. Based on the transcriptome dataset, nine anthocyanin biosynthesis pathway genes (PAL, CHS1, CHS2, CHS3, CHI, F3H, DFR, ANS, and UFGT) were identified and cloned. The spatio-temporal expression patterns of these genes were also analyzed using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction. The study results not only enrich the gene resource but also provide valuable information for further studies concerning anthocyanin biosynthesis.
The Key Laboratory of Forest Genetics & Biotechnology, Nanjing Forestry University, 159# Long Pan Road, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210037, China.
Zhong-Wei
ZW
Wang
The Key Laboratory of Forest Genetics & Biotechnology, Nanjing Forestry University, 159# Long Pan Road, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210037, China; Purdue-NWAFU Joint Research Center, Northwest A&F University, Yang ling, Shanxi, China.
Cong
C
Jiang
Jiangxi Forestry Academy, Plant Bio-tech Key Laboratory for Jiangxi Province, Nanchang, Jiangxi 330013, China.
Qiang
Q
Wen
The Key Laboratory of Forest Genetics & Biotechnology, Nanjing Forestry University, 159# Long Pan Road, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210037, China.
Na
N
Wang
The Key Laboratory of Forest Genetics & Biotechnology, Nanjing Forestry University, 159# Long Pan Road, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210037, China.
Yuan-Yuan
YY
Tao
The Key Laboratory of Forest Genetics & Biotechnology, Nanjing Forestry University, 159# Long Pan Road, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210037, China. Electronic address: laxu@njfu.edu.cn.
Li-An
LA
Xu
D000872:Anthocyanins / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000235:genetics; D001483:Base Sequence; D028244:Camellia / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics*; D020224:Expressed Sequence Tags; D017343:Genes, Plant; D059014:High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing; D058977:Molecular Sequence Annotation; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000235:genetics; D059467:Transcriptome
D000872:Anthocyanins; D014157:Transcription Factors
Anthocyanin biosynthesis; Camellia chekiangoleosa; Transcriptome