Comparative transcriptome and microbial community sequencing provide insight into yellow-leaf phenotype of Camellia japonica

Background Leaf color variation is a common trait in plants and widely distributed in many plants. In this study, a leaf color mutation in Camellia japonica (cultivar named as Maguxianzi, M) was used as material, and the mechanism of leaf color variation was revealed by physiological, cytological, transcriptome and microbiome analyses. Results The yellowing C. japonica (M) exhibits lower pigment content than its parent (cultivar named as Huafurong, H), especially chlorophyll (Chl) and carotenoid, and leaves of M have weaker photosynthesis. Subsequently, the results of transmission electron microscopy(TEM) exhibited that M chloroplast was accompanied by broken thylakoid membrane, degraded thylakoid grana, and filled with many vesicles. Furthermore, comparative transcriptome sequencing identified 3,298 differentially expressed genes (DEGs). KEGG annotation analysis results showed that 69 significantly enriched DEGs were involved in Chl biosynthesis, carotenoid biosynthesis, photosynthesis, and plant-pathogen interaction. On this basis, we sequenced the microbial diversity of the H and M leaves. The sequencing results suggested that the abundance of Didymella in the M leaves was significantly higher than that in the H leaves, which meant that M leaves might be infected by Didymella. Conclusions Therefore, we speculated that Didymella infected M leaves while reduced Chl and carotenoid content by damaging chloroplast structures, and altered the intensity of photosynthesis, thereby causing the leaf yellowing phenomenon of C. japonica (M). This research will provide new insights into the leaf color variation mechanism and lay a theoretical foundation for plant breeding and molecular markers.

Leaf Color Stability during Plant Development as an Index of Leaf Color Variation among Micropropagated Caladium

The developmental pattern of leaf color distribution during plant development in 10 cultivars of Caladium ×hortulanum Birdsey was investigated. We used the color occupying the largest area in the terminal leaf as the dominant color, and expressed the leaf color stability during plant development by the ratio of the percentage of the dominant color area in the terminal leaf to that of the dominant color area in the initial leaf (leaf color stability index). In some cultivars, leaf color stability index was clearly greater than 1 (leaf-color-unstable cultivar), but in some cultivars it was close to 1 (leaf-color-stable cultivar). In plants regenerated from leaf explants of leaf-color-unstable cultivars, many (21% to 43%) color variants were observed but only a few (0% to 6%) occurred from leaf explants of leaf-color-stable cultivars. Tissue culture appears to be a useful technique for rapid propagation based on leaf color stability in leaf-color-stable and leaf-color-unstable cultivars.