Alfalfa Flower Pigment and Gene Expression Profiles

Integrated transcriptomic and metabolomic data profiles five alfalfa flower types (white and four purple shades) to investigate color formation. The analysis identified 580 common significant differentially expressed genes (CSDEGs) and quantified key anthocyanin pigments like delphinidin-3,5-O-diglucoside. The dataset was created by Hongqi Du and published on figshare in March 2026.

Use Cases

• Correlate the expression levels of 580 CSDEGs with the quantified anthocyanin contents across five flower types.
• Identify candidate transcription factors, such as MYB and bHLH among the 24 found, for regulating the anthocyanin biosynthesis chain.
• Model the relationship between the ratio of blue to red pigments and gene expression trends across the purple flower gradient (ZH1 to ZH4).
• Validate transcriptomic data using qRT-PCR results for genes like MSTRG.59017 and MSTRG.14861 linked to specific anthocyanin molecules.

Strengths

• Integrated multi-omics data combining metabolomic pigment quantification with transcriptomic gene expression profiling.
• Focus on a specific biological mechanism with 580 common significant differentially expressed genes identified across comparisons.
• Clear experimental design profiling five distinct flower types (white and four purple shades) for comparative analysis.
• Dataset is openly shared under a CC BY 4.0 license, facilitating reuse.

Limitations

• The dataset is small in file size (553.3 KB), indicating limited raw data volume, likely containing processed summary results.
• Specific sample sizes, row counts, and column structures for the underlying data tables are not provided.
• The study focuses on a single plant species (alfalfa) and a specific trait, limiting generalizability to other organisms.

Provenance

Source

figshare, authored by Hongqi Du.

Collection Method

Data generated via integrated LC-ESI-MS/MS metabolomics and RNA-seq transcriptomics analyses of alfalfa flower samples.

Freshness

Last updated March 2026.