Role of flavonols in the pale-yellow flower color expression of Ranunculus cultivars

Flavonoids were isolated and identified from pale-yellow flowers of the Wonderland iQ series Ranunculus cultivar, ‘Wonderland iQ Cream Shade’. The major flavonoids were identified as flavonols, including kaempferol 3-O-glucoside, kaempferol 3-O-sophoroside and their acylated compounds with malonic acid.
Kaempferol 3-O-sophoroside-7-O-glucoside, which is the first report from flowers of Ranunculaceae, was also isolated.
Other three cultivars of Wonderland iQ series, ‘Wonderland iQ Golden Yellow’, ‘Wonderland iQ Rose Shade’ and ‘Wonderland iQ Red Shade’, were also used as plant materials.
Their flower colors, pH of petal pressed juice, as well as contents of flavonols, anthocyanins, carotenoids and chlorophylls were measured.
A relatively high pH 6.0 was observed in pale-yellow and orange flowers.
However, the effect of such a higher pH was not observed during in vitro flower color reconstruction.
Moreover, the highest flavonol content was observed in pale-yellow flower cultivar among the four cultivars, with relatively small amounts of carotenoid and chlorophyll.
These results indicate that the pale-yellow color of Ranunculus ‘Wonderland iQ Cream Shade’ may be related with the high flavonol accumulation.
This report would offer an insight into the color expression mechanism of Ranunculus cultivars and provide basic knowledge for further breeding.

IV Asian Horticultural Congress – AHC2023

Q. Qin, F. Tatsuzawa, T. Nakane, T. Iwashina, T. Mizuno

carotenoid, chlorophyll, color reconstruction, kaempferol derivatives, kaempferol 3-O-sophoroside-7-O-glucoside

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2024.1404.118