Scientists have revealed the molecular mechanisms of orchids

The orchids and the lip petals specialized by the petals usually have a rich color, so their patterns are also rich in diversity. On February 28th Communications Biology published online the process of forming orchid patterns and their molecular mechanisms. This conclusion enriches people's understanding of the process and mechanism of color formation, and provides new insights and ideas for plant color research and color breeding.Wang Wei, author of the
paper and a researcher at the Forestry Research Institute of the China Academy of Forestry Sciences, said that the uneven distribution of pigments in different areas of petals forms a pattern of color, which not only helps plants attract pollinators, but also the importance of many ornamental flowers. Although the formation mechanism of pigment in petals has been reported in many plants, the mechanism formed by the specific accumulation of different kinds of pigments in different areas of slivers and petals has not been systematically described.
The study looked at KOVA, a Cateran cultivar, in which the slivers and side lobes were white-pink, the upper lip flaps were purple-red, and the lower lip petals were yellow, affecting the pigmentation of these two colors, namely, chlorosides and carotenoids. By looking at the anatomy of flower morphology at different stages of development, the sampling time nodes of slivers, side lobes, upper lip flaps and lower lip flaps for transcription and metabolic groups were determined according to the change of color esophology.
further analysis of the anthromosine synthesis path (ABP) and carotenoid synthesis path (CBP) in the flower space-time changes. The researchers then obtained several potential R2R3-MYB transcription factors involved in regulating ABP and CBP, and used transient expression techniques to validate these transcription factors in the white petals of butterfly orchids. Among them, RcRCP1 can make white petals pale yellow, while RcPAP1 and RcPAP2 can make petals appear fuchsia.
researchers also found that the MADS-box gene may also be involved in the formation of color patterns as a factor in the identity of flower organs, including shapes and colors. The expression difference between the upper and lower lip flaps with large esolysal differences was large, while the expression difference between the upper and lower flaps with small differences in color and shape was relatively small.
researchers believe that these transcription factors and genes may affect ABP and CBP in space-time, thus jointly regulating the space-time differentiation of color in slivers, sidelobes, upper and lower lips during KOVA flower development. Before flowering, chloroside accumulates in the upper lip petals to make it fuchsia, and after flowering, the flakes and side petals accumulate a small amount of chloroside to show white pink, chlorotin and α-carotene accumulation makes the lower lip petal yellow.
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