蜡梅花色相关转录因子的克隆与功能解析

蜡梅是特产于我国的传统名花，其红心品种花朵中被片及内被片分别因黄酮醇和花青苷类物质的存在而呈现出黄色和红色，是研究花色表达的良好植物材料。在前期研究中我们已克隆了相关结构酶基因，预测了花色代谢过程，但其调控机制尚不明确。转录调控因子具强表达性和多位点协同效应，因此在生物代谢途径中起着决定作用。本研究拟通过生物信息学分析、分子生物学方法，对蜡梅花色开展DNA、RNA及蛋白水平的研究，筛选出与蜡梅花青苷积累相关的关键MYB、bHLH和WD40类转录因子，分析其生物学功能和对花色结构基因的调控方式，了解它们的互作模式，以及它们对光温等环境因子的响应。该研究全面而系统地对MYB、bHLH和WD40类转录因子进行筛选和功能分析，可望从分子水平上找到影响花青苷积累的关键因子，为育成新的蜡梅品种奠定重要的研究基础，对研究调节基因和结构基因协同调控花色研究有重要意义。

Wintersweet (Chimonanthus praecox) is a traditional famous flower native to China. It is an ideal plant material to study differential gene expressions related to flower color in that its middle tepals and inner tepals exhibit yellow and red color, respectively, due to the presence of flavonol and anthocyanin. In previous study, we have predicted flavonoids pathways in wintersweet and cloned some key structural genes. However, regulation mechanism of flavonoids remains unknown until now. Transcription factors play an import role in many metabolism pathways because of its strong and multiple effects. By bioinfomatics and molecular methods, we intend to find out key MYB, bHLH and WD40 transcription factors conferring to anthocyanin accumulation, analyze their biological functions, their interactions, their response to environmental factors, and their regulation on structural genes. The study screens and analyzes MYB, bHLH and WD40 transcription factors systematically. The results will obtain key factors conferring anthocyanin accumulation at molecular level, lay foundation for novel wintersweet cultivar. It is also of significance to study synergistic regulation of regulatory and structural genes.