Rose Scent: Genomics Approach to Discovering Novel Floral Fragrance-Related Genes

• Published in: The Plant cell Vol. 14; no. 10; pp. 2325 - 2338
• Main Authors: Guterman, Inna, Shalit, Moshe, Menda, Naama, Piestun, Dan, Dafny-Yelin, Mery, Shalev, Gil, Bar, Einat, Davydov, Olga, Ovadis, Mariana, Emanuel, Michal, Wang, Jihong, Adam, Zach, Pichersky, Eran, Lewinsohn, Efraim, Zamir, Dani, Vainstein, Alexander, Weiss, David
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States American Society of Plant Biologists 01.10.2002
• Subjects: Alkyl and Aryl Transferases - genetics; Alkyl and Aryl Transferases - metabolism; Amino Acid Sequence; Chemical analysis; Cloning, Molecular; Complementary DNA; Cultivars; DNA, Complementary - chemistry; DNA, Complementary - genetics; E coli; Economic importance; Escherichia coli - genetics; Expressed Sequence Tags; Flowers; Flowers - chemistry; Flowers - genetics; Flowers - growth & development; Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry; Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; Genes; Genomics; Genomics Article; Methyltransferases - genetics; Methyltransferases - metabolism; Molecular Sequence Data; Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis; Perfume - chemistry; Perfume - metabolism; Petals; Phenotype; Plant cells; Plants; RNA; Rosa - chemistry; Rosa - genetics; Rosa - growth & development; Sequence Analysis, DNA; Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; Sesquiterpenes; Sesquiterpenes - chemistry; Sesquiterpenes - metabolism; Sesquiterpenes, Germacrane
• ISSN: 1040-4651; 1532-298X
• DOI: 10.1105/tpc.005207

For centuries, rose has been the most important crop in the floriculture industry; its economic importance also lies in the use of its petals as a source of natural fragrances. Here, we used genomics approaches to identify novel scent-related genes, using rose flowers from tetraploid scented and nonscented cultivars. An annotated petal EST database of ∼2100 unique genes from both cultivars was created, and DNA chips were prepared and used for expression analyses of selected clones. Detailed chemical analysis of volatile composition in the two cultivars, together with the identification of secondary metabolism-related genes whose expression coincides with scent production, led to the discovery of several novel flower scent-related candidate genes. The function of some of these genes, including a germacrene D synthase, was biochemically determined using an Escherichia coli expression system. This work demonstrates the advantages of using the high-throughput approaches of genomics to detail traits of interest expressed in a cultivar-specific manner in nonmodel plants.