Natural variation in petal color in Lycoris longituba revealed by anthocyanin components

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 6; no. 8; p. e22098
• Main Authors: He, Qiuling, Shen, Ye, Wang, Mingxiu, Huang, Minren, Yang, Ruizhen, Zhu, Shuijin, Wang, Liangsheng, Xu, Yanjun, Wu, Rongling
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 04-08-2011; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Adonis aestivalis; Amaryllidaceae; Anthocyanins; Anthocyanins - metabolism; Biodiversity; Biology; Biosynthesis; Breeding; Calendula officinalis; Carotenoids; Chromatography; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; Color; Coloration; Deoxyribonucleic acid; DNA; DNA damage; Enzymes; Flowers; Flowers & plants; Food; Forestry; Fruits; High performance liquid chromatography; Insects; Ionization; Laboratories; Light; Liquid chromatography; Lycoris; Lycoris - metabolism; Mass spectrometry; Mass spectroscopy; Multivariate analysis; Nelumbo; Petals; Pigments; Plant protection; Plant sciences; Pollination; Scientific imaging; Species; Species diversity; Spectrometry, Mass, Electrospray Ionization; Values; Vitis vinifera; Beijing China; China
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0022098

Lycoris longituba is one of the species belonging to the Amaryllidaceae family. Despite its limited distribution, endemic to central eastern China, this species displays an exceptionally wide diversity of flower colors from purple, red, orange, to yellow, in nature. We study the natural variation of floral color in L. longituba by testing the components of water-soluble vacuolar pigments--anthocyanins--in its petals using high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with photodiode array detection and electrospray ionization mass spectrometry. Four anthocyanins were identified, cyanidin-3-sophoroside (Cy3So), cyanidin-3-xylosylglucoside (Cy3XyGlc), cyanidin-3-sambubioside (Cy3Sa), and pelargonidin-3-xylosylglucoside (Pg3XyGlc), which occur at various amounts in L. longituba petals of different colors. A multivariate analysis was used to explore the relationship between pigments and flower color. Anthocyanins have been thought to play a major role in acting as a UV screen that protects the plant's DNA from sunlight damage and attracting insects for the purpose of pollination. Thus, knowledge about the content and type of anthocyanins determining the petal coloration of Lycoris longituba will help to study the adaptive evolution of flowers and provide useful information for the ornamental breeding of this species.