Flower cultivation regimes affect apocarotenoid accumulation and gene expression during the development of saffron stigma

• DOI: 10.1007/s13580-020-00248-4
• Publication Date: 2020-05-08T12:02:45Z
• Authors: Guifen Zhou; Liqin Li; Jiemiao Lu; Jing Li; Chong Yao; Peng Sun; Kaohua Liu; Yan Dong; Luping Qin; Xiaodong Qian
• Keywords: 0301 basic medicine; 03 medical and health sciences; 15. Life on land

The quality of commercial saffron largely depends on apocarotenoid levels. Whether they are affected by different flower cultivation regimes remains unknown. In present study, apocarotenoid levels and the expression profiles of 12 genes related to apocarotenoid biosynthesis between field- and indoor-cultivated Crocus sativus L. were analyzed during stigma development. Under both cultivation regimes, apocarotenoid accumulation and gene expression showed similar profiles, first sharply increasing and then gradually decreasing with stigma development, which suggested the coordinated function of gene expression and apocarotenoid accumulation. However, the rate of increase/decrease varied widely between two blossom regimes at different developmental stages. Based on correlation analysis, βCH1 and ZDS seemed to play a more crucial role in apocarotenoid accumulation under both cultivation regimes. At anthesis, the total apocarotenoid level in saffron cultivated in the field was higher than that cultivated indoors. This may be due to lower gene expression levels in the apocarotenoid pathway, especially βCH1, ZDS, and CCD2, and higher CCD4a and NCED expression in the competitive pathway in saffron cultivated indoors than that in the field, which indicated higher conversion in apocarotenoid biosynthesis flux from crocins and picrocrocin synthesis to β-ionone and the ABA biosynthetic branch in saffron cultivated indoors. These results provide valuable information for modifying planting mode to enhance saffron quality.