Metabolome profiling of floral scent production in Petunia axillaris

Abstract

Emission of floral scent benzenoid/phenylpropanoid compounds in Petunia axillaris increases significantly at night, a change that is primarily determined by the endogenous concentration of these compounds in the corolla. Among wild type P. axillaris plants, there are lines that emit different amounts of scent. To understand how the nocturnal rhythm of floral scent concentrations is controlled, the concentration profiles of metabolites in the scent biosynthetic pathway in two lines of P. axillaris, a strongly scented line and a weakly scented line, are reported. In the strongly scented line, the concentration of a series of compounds from glucose-6-phosphate (G6P) to the scent compounds changed synchronously. In the weakly scented lines, the concentrations of some metabolites including 6-phosphogluconate (6PG) and downstream metabolites of shikimic acid were remarkably lower, suggesting a reduction in metabolism of G6P to 6PG and the metabolism of shikimic acid in the weakly scented line. Nocturnal increases in the concentrations of sucrose, fructose, and glucose were not found in strongly scented line. Nocturnal increases in concentrations of S-adenosylhomocysteine (SAH) and methionine and reductions in the concentrations of S-adenosylmethionine (SAM), a methylation donor to benzenoid-skeletons, were observed only in strongly scented line. It is concluded that the biosynthetic regulation of each step from G6P to the volatile scent benzenoids is performed by, at least in part, concentrations of substrates, and the regulation also affects concentrations of SAM cycle compounds.