Transcriptomic Analysis of the Candidate Genes Related to Aroma Formation in Osmanthus fragrans

Abstract

<i>Osmanthus fragrans</i>, or "RiXiangGui", is an ornamental, woody, evergreen plant that is cultivated widely because it blooms recurrently and emits a strong fragrance. Recently, the germplasm resources, classification, and aroma compositions of <i>O</i>. <i>fragrans</i> have been investigated. However, the molecular mechanisms of the floral scent formation and regulation have remained largely unknown. To obtain a global perspective on the molecular mechanism of the aroma formation during blooming, nine RNA Sequencing (RNA-Seq) libraries were constructed from three flowering stages: The initial, full, and final flowering stage. In short, a total of 523,961,310 high-quality clean reads were assembled into 136,611unigenes, with an average sequence length of 792 bp. About 47.43% of the unigenes (64,795) could be annotated in the NCBI non-redundant protein database. A number of candidate genes were identified in the terpenoid metabolic pathways and 1327 transcription factors (TFs), which showed differential expression patterns among the floral scent formation stages, were also identified, especially <i>OfMYB1</i>, <i>OfMYB6</i>, <i>OfWRKY1</i>, and <i>OfWRKY3</i>, which could play critical roles in the floral scent formation. These results indicated that the floral scent formation of <i>O</i>. <i>fragrans</i> was a very complex process which involved a large number of TFs. This study provides reliable resources for further studies of the <i>O.fragrans</i> floral scent formation.