ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Plant Sci.
Sec. Plant Metabolism and Chemodiversity
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpls.2025.1595014
Interaction of PsMYB4 with PsEGL3 inhibits anthocyanin biosynthesis in tree peony yellow flowers
Provisionally accepted
Xiaoning Luo1
Sijie Huang1Fangjun Jiang1
Qianqian Shi2Yafeng Wen1
Meng chen Li2
Minhuan Zhang1*
Yan-long Zhang2*- 1Central South University Forestry and Technology, Changsha, China
- 2Northwest A&F University, Xianyang, Shaanxi Province, China
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Tree peony is a traditional woody flower originating from China and possesses high ornamental value. The yellow cultivar is even more precious, known as the highest grade. However, the molecular mechanism underlying tree peony yellow flower formation is still unclear. Our present work identified two transcription factors (TFs), PsMYB4 and PsEGL3, which were highly expressed in yellow tree peony cultivar.PsMYB4 belonged to the R2R3-MYB repressor, while PsEGL3 was clustered into subgroup Ⅲf of bHLH family. Overexpression of PsMYB4 and PsEGL3 respectively in tobacco inhibited anthocyanin synthesis, with PsMYB4 overexpressing lines being more pronounced and the expression levels of structural genes NtC4H, NtCHS, NtCHI, and NtDFR were significantly downregulated, while the expression levels of structural genes in PsEGL3 transgenic lines showed no significant pattern. On the contrary, the expression of PsCHS, PsCHI, PsF3H and PsDFR increased in either PsMYB4 or PsEGL3 silencing tree peony petals, in which endogenous PsMYB4 and PsEGL3 genes were also inhibited to a certain extent. Yeast two-hybrid (Y2H) and bimolecular fluorescence complementation (BiFC) assays further confirmed PsMYB4 could interact with PsEGL3. Moreover, in dual-luciferase (LUC) assay, PsMYB4 and PsEGL3 synergistically suppressed the promoter activity of PsCHS, PsCHI, and PsDFR, thus inhibiting anthocyanin biosynthesis branch and leading to a metabolic flow towards the flavonol synthesis branch. These findings provide a new perspective for revealing the molecular mechanism of the yellow flower formation in tree peony.
Keywords: tree peony, Yellow flower, anthocyanin biosynthesis, Flavonoid pathway, PsMYB4, PsEGL3, Negative regulation
Received: 17 Mar 2025; Accepted: 30 May 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Luo, Huang, Jiang, Shi, Wen, Li, Zhang and Zhang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Minhuan Zhang, Central South University Forestry and Technology, Changsha, China
Yan-long Zhang, Northwest A&F University, Xianyang, 712100, Shaanxi Province, China
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