Abstract
Victoria cruziana is well known for its huge floating leaves covered with sharp spines and its night blooming. Reports indicate that white flowers open during the first night and turn light pinkish during the following day and the second night. Here, we set out to unravel the molecular basis and ecological function of the flower color change in V. cruziana . A high quality genome sequence with a contig N50 of 44.2 Mbp, a scaffold N50 of 300 Mbp, and a total assembly size of 3.5 Gbp was generated as the genetic basis for this study. Comparative transcriptomics revealed the genes required for anthocyanin biosynthesis genes and their transcriptional regulators as differentially expressed between the white and the light pinkish stage of a flower. Structural genes with expression differences between white and light pinkish flower stages include VcrF3’H , VcrF3’5’H , VcrDFR , VcrANS , and VcrarGST . The expression pattern of the corresponding transcription factors VcrMYB123 , VcrMYB-SG6_a , VcrMYB-SG6_b, VcrTT8 , and VcrTTG1 also showed differences that aligned with the flower color.
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Abstract
Victoria cruziana is well known for its huge floating leaves covered with sharp spines and its night blooming. Reports indicate that white flowers open during the first night and turn light pinkish during the following day and the second night. Here, we set out to unravel the molecular basis and ecological function of the flower color change in V. cruziana. A high quality genome sequence with a contig N50 of 44.2 Mbp, a scaffold N50 of 300 Mbp, and a total assembly size of 3.5 Gbp was generated as the genetic basis for this study. Comparative transcriptomics revealed the genes required for anthocyanin biosynthesis genes and their transcriptional regulators as differentially expressed between the white and the light pinkish stage of a flower. Structural genes with expression differences between white and light pinkish flower stages include VcrF3’H, VcrF3’5’H, VcrDFR, VcrANS, and VcrarGST. The expression pattern of the corresponding transcription factors VcrMYB123, VcrMYB-SG6_a, VcrMYB-SG6_b, VcrTT8, and VcrTTG1 also showed differences that aligned with the flower color.
Competing Interest Statement
MSN and BH received a material donation from Oxford Nanopore Technologies to conduct direct RNA sequencing. Expenses connected to RF's presentation at LodonCalling2024 about her research on medicinal plant genomics were covered by ONT. The other authors declare that they have no competing interests.
Footnotes
- Pore-C method description added - Pore-C data included to improve the genome sequence quality - NCBI accession of assembly and annotation added
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