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Acta Horticulturae Sinica ›› 2026, Vol. 53 ›› Issue (2): 359-385.doi: 10.16420/j.issn.0513-353x.2025-0815

• Reviews • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Molecular Insights into the Formation and Regulation of Floral Scent Traits in Ornamental Plants

WANG Fang, FAN Yanping()   

  1. College of Horticulture/Flower Research Center,South China Agricultural University,Guangzhou 510642,China
  • Received:2025-09-03 Revised:2025-11-09 Online:2026-02-25 Published:2026-02-12

Abstract:

Floral scent serves as a crucial signal mediating interactions between plants,their environment,and other organisms. It is predominantly composed of diverse volatile organic compounds(VOC)emitted from floral tissues,including terpenoids,phenylpropanoids/benzenoids,and fatty acid derivatives. The biosynthesis of floral volatiles involves multiple metabolic pathways and exhibits pronounced spatiotemporal dynamics across different developmental stages and floral tissues. This process is coordinately regulated by key enzyme-encoding genes,transcription factors,hormonal signaling,and environmental cues. In ornamental plants where terpenoids dominate the floral bouquet,members of the terpene synthase(TPS)gene family,together with several quantitative trait loci(QTL),largely determine the diversity and specificity of floral scent composition. With the rapid advancement of multi-omics and molecular breeding technologies,transgenic approaches and genome editing tools,such as CRISPR/Cas9,have shown great potential for modifying floral scent traits. Concurrently,microbial“cell factory” systems offer promising strategies for the scalable and sustainable production of natural floral volatiles. This review provides a comprehensive overview of the major chemical constituents and metabolic pathways underlying floral scent in plants,as well as the spatiotemporal regulation of volatile emission and the associated key genes and regulatory networks. Finally,it further discusses recent advances and future prospects in the molecular breeding and industrial applications of floral scent. The review aims to offer a theoretical framework for understanding the molecular mechanisms of scent formation and to provide new perspectives for its application in ornamental plant improvement and related industries.

Key words: floral scent, volatile organic compound, metabolic pathway, transcription factor, molecular breeding