Transcriptome analysis and hormone metabolic profiling provide molecular insights into flowering process in petunia.
4 affiliations
- 1Department of Plant Science and Technology, Shanghai Vocational College of Agriculture and Forestry, Shanghai, 201699, China.
- 2Shanghai Agricultural Technology Extension Service Center, Shanghai, 201103, China.
- 3School of Agriculture and Biology, Shanghai Jiaotong University, Shanghai, 200240, China.
- 4Department of Plant Science and Technology, Shanghai Vocational College of Agriculture and Forestry, Shanghai, 201699, China. [email protected].
Abstract
Background
The flowering process is a complex biological event regulated by coordinated transcriptional programs and hormone signaling. Petunia hybrida is an important ornamental plant, yet the integrative regulatory mechanisms between hormones and gene expression during flowering remain poorly understood. In this study, flowers of the petunia cultivar '112' were classified into three developmental stages based on days before anthesis: 7 days before flowering (DBF7), 4 days before flowering (DBF4), and the day of flowering (F). Integrated transcriptomic and hormone profiling analyses were conducted to systematically investigate gene expression dynamics and hormone metabolism during the flowering process.Results
High-quality RNA sequencing generated over 483.36 million clean reads, with mapping rates exceeding 83.9% against the petunia reference genome. Comparative transcriptome analysis identified 7,160, 8,687, and 11,161 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in DBF4 vs. DBF7, F vs. DBF4, and F vs. DBF7, respectively. K-means clustering divided DEGs into four expression modules associated with primary metabolism, secondary metabolite biosynthesis, hormone signal transduction, and floral organ morphogenesis. Transcription factor analysis revealed that bHLH, bZIP, MADS, TCP, and WRKY families exhibited distinct stage-specific expression patterns during the flowering process. Hormone profiling revealed dynamic changes in auxin, gibberellin, jasmonate, salicylic acid, and abscisic acid contents. Integrated transcriptomic and hormone analyses showed that auxin, gibberellin, and jasmonate biosynthesis pathways were predominantly active during early developmental stages, in accordance with the expression dynamics of major biosynthetic genes (PhYUC, PhTAR, PhGA20ox, PhGA3ox, PhLOX, PhAOS, and PhOPR3). Gene-hormone network analysis revealed interconnections among phytohormone signaling pathways, particularly between jasmonate-gibberellin and abscisic acid-cytokinin, which are associated with representative genes involved in jasmonate-related lipid metabolism (PhPLA2A and PhOPR11), phenylpropanoid metabolism (PhPAL1 and PhCAMT3), and cell wall modification (PhPGLR4 and PhGUN25) during the flowering process.Conclusions
This study provides a comprehensive overview of the transcriptional and hormonal regulatory networks governing the flowering process in petunia. Our results reveal a stage-specific regulatory framework in which coordinated gene expression and phytohormone interactions contribute to flower development and opening, providing potential genetic resources for the improvement of ornamental traits in petunia.
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BibTeX
@article{chen2026transcriptome,
title = {{Transcriptome analysis and hormone metabolic profiling provide molecular insights into flowering process in petunia.}},
author = {Yue Chen and Xiang Gao and Jue Chen and Yanfang Xu and Yanhua Zhou and Danqing Yao and Huibin Luo and Juan Liu and Junsong Pan and Weiwei Zhang},
journal = {BMC plant biology},
year = {2026},
month = jul,
doi = {10.1186/s12870-026-09062-z},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42902126},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Transcriptome analysis and hormone metabolic profiling provide molecular insights into flowering process in petunia.
AU - Yue Chen
AU - Xiang Gao
AU - Jue Chen
AU - Yanfang Xu
AU - Yanhua Zhou
AU - Danqing Yao
AU - Huibin Luo
AU - Juan Liu
AU - Junsong Pan
AU - Weiwei Zhang
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/07/01
JO - BMC plant biology
DO - 10.1186/s12870-026-09062-z
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42902126
AB - Background The flowering process is a complex biological event regulated by coordinated transcriptional programs and hormone signaling. Petunia hybrida is an important ornamental plant, yet the integrative regulatory mechanisms between hormones and gene expression during flowering remain poorly understood. In this study, flowers of the petunia cultivar '112' were classified into three developmental stages based on days before anthesis: 7 days before flowering (DBF7), 4 days before flowering (DBF4), and the day of flowering (F). Integrated transcriptomic and hormone profiling analyses were conducted to systematically investigate gene expression dynamics and hormone metabolism during the flowering process.Results High-quality RNA sequencing generated over 483.36 million clean reads, with mapping rates exceeding 83.9% against the petunia reference genome. Comparative transcriptome analysis identified 7,160, 8,687, and 11,161 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in DBF4 vs. DBF7, F vs. DBF4, and F vs. DBF7, respectively. K-means clustering divided DEGs into four expression modules associated with primary metabolism, secondary metabolite biosynthesis, hormone signal transduction, and floral organ morphogenesis. Transcription factor analysis revealed that bHLH, bZIP, MADS, TCP, and WRKY families exhibited distinct stage-specific expression patterns during the flowering process. Hormone profiling revealed dynamic changes in auxin, gibberellin, jasmonate, salicylic acid, and abscisic acid contents. Integrated transcriptomic and hormone analyses showed that auxin, gibberellin, and jasmonate biosynthesis pathways were predominantly active during early developmental stages, in accordance with the expression dynamics of major biosynthetic genes (PhYUC, PhTAR, PhGA20ox, PhGA3ox, PhLOX, PhAOS, and PhOPR3). Gene-hormone network analysis revealed interconnections among phytohormone signaling pathways, particularly between jasmonate-gibberellin and abscisic acid-cytokinin, which are associated with representative genes involved in jasmonate-related lipid metabolism (PhPLA2A and PhOPR11), phenylpropanoid metabolism (PhPAL1 and PhCAMT3), and cell wall modification (PhPGLR4 and PhGUN25) during the flowering process.Conclusions This study provides a comprehensive overview of the transcriptional and hormonal regulatory networks governing the flowering process in petunia. Our results reveal a stage-specific regulatory framework in which coordinated gene expression and phytohormone interactions contribute to flower development and opening, providing potential genetic resources for the improvement of ornamental traits in petunia.
SN - 1471-2229
ER -