NCHU research unlocks orchid perianth code

2015-05-11

A rsearch team from Taichung City-based National Chung Hsing University has unlocked the perianth code determining an orchid flower’s unique shape and petal pattern.

Reported online April 27 in U.K. science journal Nature Plants, the team’s findings show the large and irregularly modified petal, or lip, of an orchid is formed by competition between the lip and sepal-petal protein complexes. Solving this mystery of formation enbales breeders to create a more diversified range of flowers and increase exports.

Team leader Yang Chang-hsien, a professor with NCHU’s Graduate Institute of Biotechnology, said lips evolved over time to attract pollinators and serve as a landing platform for the butterflies, insects and moths. “By promoting reproduction using olfactory, tactile and visual cues, this unique trait has given orchids a considerable evolutionary edge.”

According to Yang, the genetic code the team identified shows mutually contending complexes determining the formation of perianth patterns through varying chromosome compositions. “A prominent lip will be formed if the L complex wins out, while SP produces more homogeneous petals.

“Different mixtures of L and SP are responsible for countless variations seen in more than 20,000 orchid species all over the world.”

The project was executed by an all-Taiwan team comprising NCHU biotechnology, biochemistry and life sciences researchers, as well as contributions from National Museum of Natural Science in Taichung.

Source: Taiwan Today (http://taiwantoday.tw/ct.asp?xItem=230179&ctNode=413)