Muscari commutatum genome sequences reveal genetic basis of flower pigmentation
- 1University of Bonn, Institute for Cellular & Molecular Botany (IZMB)
Abstract
Flower colour is an important component of floral signaling, yet the genetic basis of naturally occurring colour variation remains poorly understood in many non-model plant groups. Here, we compare genome sequences of a normally pigmented and a largely unpigmented individual of Muscari commutatum, a species typically characterized by very dark violet flowers. Both assemblies were approximately 3.5 Gbp in size, with contig N50 values exceeding 130 Mbp and BUSCO completeness of about 99%. Most structural genes of the flavonoid biosynthesis and the corresponding transcriptional regulators were identified in both plants. Strikingly, no flavanone 3-hydroxylase (F3H) gene was detected in the genome sequence of the unpigmented plant, and additional manual searches provided no evidence for a bona fide F3H copy. Comparison of the two genome sequences revealed a lack of local synteny around the F3H locus of the anthocyanin-pigmented plant, suggesting that F3H might have been lost in the unpigmented plant in association with a genomic rearrangement.
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BibTeX
@misc{oliveira2026muscari,
title = {{Muscari commutatum genome sequences reveal genetic basis of flower pigmentation}},
author = {J. A. V. S. de Oliveira and B. Pucker and T. Boehnert},
howpublished = {bioRxiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.64898/2026.09.18.752705},
url = {https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.18.752705v1},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Muscari commutatum genome sequences reveal genetic basis of flower pigmentation
AU - J. A. V. S. de Oliveira
AU - B. Pucker
AU - T. Boehnert
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/18
PB - bioRxiv
DO - 10.64898/2026.09.18.752705
UR - https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.18.752705v1
AB - Flower colour is an important component of floral signaling, yet the genetic basis of naturally occurring colour variation remains poorly understood in many non-model plant groups. Here, we compare genome sequences of a normally pigmented and a largely unpigmented individual of Muscari commutatum, a species typically characterized by very dark violet flowers. Both assemblies were approximately 3.5 Gbp in size, with contig N50 values exceeding 130 Mbp and BUSCO completeness of about 99%. Most structural genes of the flavonoid biosynthesis and the corresponding transcriptional regulators were identified in both plants. Strikingly, no flavanone 3-hydroxylase (F3H) gene was detected in the genome sequence of the unpigmented plant, and additional manual searches provided no evidence for a bona fide F3H copy. Comparison of the two genome sequences revealed a lack of local synteny around the F3H locus of the anthocyanin-pigmented plant, suggesting that F3H might have been lost in the unpigmented plant in association with a genomic rearrangement.
ER -