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. 2023 May 8:14:1162893.
doi: 10.3389/fpls.2023.1162893. eCollection 2023.

Metabolome analysis reveals flavonoid changes during the leaf color transition in Populus × euramericana 'Zhonghuahongye'

Mengjiao Chen  1   2 , Cuifang Chang  3 , Hui Li  1 , Lin Huang  1 , Zongshun Zhou  4 , Jingle Zhu  1 , Dan Liu  5
Affiliations

Metabolome analysis reveals flavonoid changes during the leaf color transition in Populus × euramericana 'Zhonghuahongye'

Mengjiao Chen et al. Front Plant Sci. .

Abstract

Introduction: To investigate the mechanism of leaf color change at different stages in Populus × euramericana 'Zhonghuahongye' ('Zhonghong' poplar).

Methods: Leaf color phenotypes were determined and a metabolomic analysis was performed on leaves at three stages (R1, R2 and R3).

Results: The a*, C* and chromatic light values of the leaves decreased by 108.91%, 52.08% and 113.34%, while the brightness L values and chromatic b* values gradually increased by 36.01% and 13.94%, respectively. In the differential metabolite assay, 81 differentially expressed metabolites were detected in the R1 vs. R3 comparison, 45 were detected in the R1 vs. R2 comparison, and 75 were detected in the R2 vs. R3 comparison. Ten metabolites showed significant differences in all comparisons, which were mostly flavonoid metabolites. The metabolites that were upregulated in the three periods were cyanidin 3,5-O-diglucoside, delphinidin, and gallocatechin, with flavonoid metabolites accounting for the largest proportion and malvidin 3- O-galactoside as the primary downregulated metabolite. The color shift of red leaves from a bright purplish red to a brownish green was associated with the downregulation of malvidin 3-O-glucoside, cyanidin, naringenin, and dihydromyricetin.

Discussion: Here, we analyzed the expression of flavonoid metabolites in the leaves of 'Zhonghong' poplar at three stages and identified key metabolites closely related to leaf color change, providing an important genetic basis for the genetic improvement of this cultivar.

Keywords: Poplar ‘Zhonghong’; color change; flavonoids; leaves; metabolome analysis.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Statistical chart of flavonoid metabolite classification.
Figure 2
Figure 2
(A) QC-like intrinsic spectrum detection TIC overlay plot. (Negative and positive indicate the ion mode for mass spectrometry detection.) (B): PCA score plot of quality spectrometry data for actual samples and quality control samples in each group. (The X axis represents the first principal component, and the Y axis represents the second principal component.).
Figure 3
Figure 3
(A) The sample-to-metabolite correlation clustering diagram. (B): The sample-to-sample correlation clustering diagram.
Figure 4
Figure 4
(A) On the right are the volcano plots of different metabolites. On the right are the top 10 upregulated and downregulated metabolites based on log2FC in the fold change analysis. (A) R1 vs. R3; (B) R1 vs. R2; (C) R2 vs. R3.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Venn diagram comparing different metabolites in different periods.
Figure 6
Figure 6
KEGG classification map and KEGG pathway enrichment of different metabolites. (A) R1 vs. R3; (B) R1 vs. R2; (C) R2 vs. R3.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Schematic diagram of the pathways involved in the synthesis of flavonoid metabolites. Each heatmap shows metabolites with significantly different expression levels.
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