Composition of Carotenoids and Flavonoids in Narcissus Cultivars and their Relationship with Flower Color.

Xin Li,Min Lu,Dongqin Tang,Yimin Shi,Lourdes Gómez-Gómez

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0142074

Abstract

Narcissus is widely used for cut flowers and potted plants, and is one of the most important commercial bulbous flowers in the floricultural industry. In this study, ten carotenoid and eighteen flavonoid compounds from the perianths and coronas of fifteen narcissus cultivars were measured by HPLC–APCI-MS/MS and UPLC-Q-TOF-MS/MS. Among these, six carotenoids, a total of seventeen flavonols and chlorogenic acid were identified in narcissus for the first time. A multivariate analysis was used to explore the relationship between flower color and pigment composition. We found that all-trans-violaxanthin and total carotenoid content were the main factors that affected flower color. These investigations could provide a global view of flower color formation and a theoretical basis for hybridization breeding in narcissus.

Highlights

Narcissus, a flowering plant of the Amaryllidaceae family, is a typical Mediterranean genus of geophyte, with between 60 and 80 separate species [1, 2].Narcissus species cover a wide variety of habitats, and they range from narrow-range endemic to much more widespread species
In recent years, growing attention has been focused on the narcissus family, owing mainly to its unique flower shape and outstanding flower color
Many studies have explored the relationship between flower color and pigment composition [4,5,6].In flowers, carotenoids synthesized in the chromoplasts are responsible for petal colors in the yellow-to-orange range [7,8]

Summary

Introduction

A flowering plant of the Amaryllidaceae family, is a typical Mediterranean genus of geophyte, with between 60 and 80 separate species [1, 2].Narcissus species cover a wide variety of habitats, and they range from narrow-range endemic to much more widespread species. We investigated the carotenoid and flavonoid compositions of fifteen narcissus cultivars from their perianths and coronas using HPLC-APCI-MS/MS and UPLC-ESI-MS/MS, which are robust methods for the separation and identification of carotenoids and flavonoids respectively. Considering the elution time, UV-visible and mass spectra features compared with an authentic standard and previous studies [17,18,20,21,22], compound C1 was assigned as all-trans-neoxanthin.

Results

Conclusion