Regulation of volatile benzenoid biosynthesis in petunia flowers

The petunia flower has served as a model for the study of several physiological processes including floral development, self-incompatibility, anthocyanin biosynthesis and ethylene signalling during senescence. More recently, Petunia hybrida ‘Mitchell’ has been used to understand the complex regulation of volatile benzenoid biosynthesis, which occurs predominantly in flower petal tissues. Benzenoid biosynthesis is temporally and circadian controlled and is tightly down-regulated by ethylene during floral senescence. Using targeted transcriptomics and gene knockouts, both biosynthetic genes and a transcription factor regulating benzenoid synthesis have been recently discovered and characterized. It appears that benzenoid production is regulated predominantly by transcriptional control of the shikimate pathway, benzenoid biosynthesis genes and S-adenosyl-methionine cycle genes.