Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Abstract: Flower colour is an important component of floral signaling, yet the genetic basis of naturally occurring colour variation remains poorly understood in many non-model plant groups. Here, we compare genome sequences of a normally pigmented and a largely unpigmented individual of Muscari commutatum , a species typically characterized by very dark violet flowers. Both assemblies were approximately 3.5 Gbp in size, with contig N50 values exceeding 130 Mbp and BUSCO completeness of about 99%. Most structural genes of the flavonoid biosynthesis and the corresponding transcriptional regulators were identified in both plants. Strikingly, no flavanone 3-hydroxylase ( F3H ) gene was detected in the genome sequence of the unpigmented plant, and additional manual searches provided no evidence for a bona fide F3H copy. Comparison of the two genome sequences revealed a lack of local synteny around the F3H locus of the anthocyanin-pigmented plant, suggesting that F3H might have been lost in the unpigmented plant in association with a genomic rearrangement.
Institution: University of Bonn
Language: English
Subfield: Molecular Biology
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7213979456