REVIEW: Genetic Aspects of Floral Fragrance in Plants

---

L. Xiang¹, J. A. Milc², N. Pecchioni², and L.-Q. Chen^1*

¹Key Laboratory of Horticultural Plant Biology (Ministry of Education), College of Horticulture and Forestry Science, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan 430070, P. R. China; fax: (0086-27) 872-82095; E-mail: chenlq@mail.hzau.edu.cn; chenlq0206@163.com

²Dipartimento di Scienze Agrarie, Universita Degli Studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia, Via J. F. Kennedy 17/19, 42100 Reggio Emilia, Italy

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed.

Received October 16, 2006; Revision received December 23, 2006

---

It is generally assumed that compounds are emitted from flowers in order to attract and guide pollinators. Due to the invisibility and the highly variable nature of floral scent, no efficient and reliable methods to screen for genetic variation have been developed. Moreover, no convenient plant model systems are available for flower scent studies. In the past decade, several floral fragrance-related genes have been cloned; the biosynthesis and metabolic engineering of floral volatiles have been studied with the development of biotechnology. This review summarizes the reported floral fragrance-related genes and the biosynthesis of floral scent compounds, introduces the origin of new modification enzymes for flower scent, compares different methods for floral fragrance-related gene cloning, and discusses the metabolic engineering of floral scent. Finally, the perspectives and prospects of research on floral fragrance are presented.

---

KEY WORDS: biosynthesis, floral scent compound, gene cloning, evolution, genetic manipulation, metabolic engineering

DOI: 10.1134/S0006297907040013

---