Alfalfa Flower Pigment and Gene Expression Profiles Across Five Color Types

2026 research data integrates metabolomic and transcriptomic profiling of five alfalfa flower types, from white to four shades of purple. The dataset identifies 580 common significant differentially expressed genes (CSDEGs) and quantifies key anthocyanin pigments like delphinidin-3,5-O-diglucoside. It was created by Hongqi Du to investigate the regulatory mechanisms underlying quantitative flower color variation.

Use Cases

• Correlate the expression levels of 580 CSDEGs with anthocyanin content across the five flower color gradients (BH, ZH1-ZH4).
• Identify candidate transcription factors, such as MYB and bHLH from the 24 TFs within the CSDEGs, for regulating purple color formation.
• Model the relationship between the ratio of blue to red pigments and the expression of 29 genes definitively involved in the anthocyanin biosynthesis chain.
• Validate transcriptomic data by correlating qRT-PCR results with pigment concentrations for specific novel genes like MSTRG.59017 and MSTRG.14861.

Strengths

• Integrated multi-omics data from metabolomics and transcriptomics analyses on five distinct flower types.
• Identifies 580 common significant differentially expressed genes (CSDEGs) with 24 being transcription factors.
• Quantifies specific anthocyanin molecules, including delphinidin-3,5-O-diglucoside and malvidin-3,5-O-diglucoside, across a color gradient.

Limitations

• Very small data file (21.4 KB), indicating it is likely a summary or processed results table, not raw experimental data.
• Unknown row and column structure limits direct analysis without inspecting the XLSX file contents.
• Focus is on a single plant species (Medicago sativa L.) under specific experimental conditions, limiting generalizability.

Provenance

Source

Figshare, authored by Hongqi Du.

Collection Method

Integrated analysis of LC-ESI-MS/MS metabolomics and RNA-seq transcriptomics on five alfalfa flower types.

Freshness

Last updated March 2026.