Analysis on Differences in Anthocyanins of Hibiscus rosa-sinensi with Different Flower Colors Based on Targeted Metabolomics

Abstract

【Objective】Hibiscus rosa-sinensis L. has high ornamental value due to rich flower colors and is widely used in urban greening and landscape architecture in South China. In order to provide theoretical and technical support for in-depth excavation of variety characteristics and flower color directional breeding technology, the characteristic differences of types and contents of anthocyanin in different flower colors were detected, and the specificity and common characteristics of different varieties of H. rosa-sinensis L. were analyzed.【Method】The anthocyanin composition and content of different petal tissues of white (W), red (R) and yellow (Y) flowers were determined by targeted metabolomics. Functional annotation, identification and analysis of metabolites were performed by using pathway enrichment analysis and multivariate statistical methods.【Result】The results showed that a total of 90 metabolites were detected in W, R and Y colors of H. rosa-sinensis L., among which 78 were differential metabolites, including cyanidin (41.11%), delphinidin (20.00%), peonidin (13.33%), and etc. There were 62 (Y vs R), 50 (Y vs W) and 65 (R vs W) differential metabolites among different flower colors, with a total of 22 common differential metabolites. Comprehensively considering the significance and absolute contents of differences in different comparative combinations, it was found thta the cyanidin-3-O-sambubioside-glucoside, pelargonidin-3-O-sophoroside, cyanidin-3-O-gentiobioside and peonidin-3-O-glucoside were relatively high in red flower; the delphinidin-3-O-(6''-O-tartaryl) glucoside, procyanidin B4 and procyanidin B3 were relatively high in yellow flower. KEGG metabolic pathways analysis revealed that differential metabolites were significantly enriched in different flower color tissues.【Conclusion】The cyanidin-3-O-sambubioside-glucoside, pelargonidin-3-O-sophoroside, cyanidin-3-O-gentiobioside and peonidin-3-O-glucoside were important metabolites determining the flower red color, while procyanidin B3 was an important metabolite determining the flower yellow color. This result preliminary revealed the differences in metabolites among different colors of H. rosa-sinensis L., which could provide theoretical references for the mechanism of color formation and color improvement for H. rosa-sinensis L..

Keywords

• hibiscus rosa-sinensis l.
• flower color
• metabolomics
• anthocyanin
• synthetic pathway
• ultra performance liquid chromatography-tandemmass spectrometry (uplc-ms/ms)