Floral volatile terpenoids (FVTs) belong to a group of volatile organic compounds (VOC) that play important roles in attracting pollinators, defending against pathogens and parasites and serving as signals associated with biotic and abiotic stress responses. Although research on FVTs has been increasing, a systematic generalization is lacking. Among flowering plants used mainly for ornamental purposes, a systematic study on the production of FVTs in flowers with characteristic aromas is still limited.
Plant volatile compounds (VOCs) biosynthesis occurs in almost all plant organs, including the roots, stems, leaves, flowers, fruits and seeds. They are widely used in perfumes, cosmetics and medicines, and seem promising for use in therapeutic gardens because some possess anxiolytic properties [1,2][1][2]. VOCs are lipophilic liquids with low molecular weights and high vapor pressures at ambient temperatures. They include terpenoids, phenylpropanoids/benzenoids, fatty acid derivatives and amino acid derivatives, in addition to a few species- and genus-specific compounds not represented in these major classes. Floral volatile terpenoids (FVTs) are the most dominant VOCs, followed by particular phenylpropanoids/benzenoids [3,4][3][4].
The main FVTs—released into the air because of their high vapor pressures—are the hemiterpenes (C5), monoterpenes (C10), sesquiterpenes (C15) and a few diterpenes (C20) [5,6,7][5][6][7]. In addition, irregular volatile terpenoids with carbon skeletons ranging from C8 to C18 are derived from carotenoids. The homoterpenes that are often emitted from night-scented flowers and aerial tissues upon herbivore attack form a small part of the FVTs [3]. Among these FVTs, monoterpenes, such as limonene, ocimene, myrcene and linalool, and sesquiterpenes, such as farnesene, nerolidol and caryophyllene, are the most ubiquitous volatiles ( Table 1 ) [4,8][4][8]. The FVTs identified so far in flowering plants are detailed in Table 1 .
The mechanism of FVT production is complex, influenced by many environmental factors and associated with vital biological functions.
Latin Name | Family | Main FVT compounds | Genes | Ref. | ||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Actinidia deliciosa | ‘Hayward’ | Actinidiaceae | ( | E | , | E | )-α-farnesene, ( | E | )-β-ocimene, (+)-germacrene D | [16] | [9] | |||
Albizia julibrissin | Leguminosae | α-farnesene, ( | Z | , | E | )-β-farnesene | AjTPS2, AjTPS5, AjTPS7, AjTPS9, AjTPS10 | [17] | [10] | |||||
Camellia | spp. | Theaceae | linalool and its oxides, geraniol, α-farnesene, hedycaryol | CbTPS1, ChTPS1, CbTPS18, CbTPS25, CbTPS28, CbTPS33, CbTPS35 CsTPS29, CbTPS47, CbTPS48, CbTPS51, CbTPS52 | [18,19,20] | [11][12][13] | ||||||||
Cananga odorata var. | fruticosa | Annonaceae | linalool | CoTPS1, CoTPS2, CoTPS3, CoTPS4 | [21] | [14] | ||||||||
Chimonanthus praecox | L. | Calycanthaceae | linalool, trans-β-ocimene, β-caryophyllene | CpTPS1, CpTPS9, CpTPS10, CpTPS14, CpTPS16, CpTPS4, CpTPS9, CpTPS42 | [22,23,24,25] | [15][16][17][18] | ||||||||
Datura wrightii | Solanaceae | linalool and its enantiomers | [26] | [19] | ||||||||||
Eurya japonica | Thunb | Theaceae | α-pinene, linalool | [27] | [20] | |||||||||
Gardenia jasminoides | Rubiaceae | farnesene, | Z | -3-hexenyl tiglate, indole | [28] | [21] | ||||||||
Gelsemium sempervirens | (L.) J. St.-Hil. | Gelsemiaceae | ( | Z | )-α-ocimene, α-farnesene | [29] | [22] | |||||||
Gossypium hirsutum | Malvaceae | ( | 3S | )-linalool | GhTPS12 | [30,31] | [23][24] | |||||||
Jasminum | spp. | Oleaceae | ?-farnesene, linalool, β-ocimene, germacrene-D | [32,33,34,35,36] | [25][26][27][28][29] | |||||||||
Laurus nobilis | Lauraceae | sesquiterpenes, γ-cadinene, δ-cadinene | [37] | [30] | ||||||||||
Lonicera japonica | Caprifoliaceae | linalool | [38] | [31] | ||||||||||
Magnolia champaca | Magnoliaceae | ( | R | )-linalool, linalool and its oxides | [39] | [32] | ||||||||
Malus domestica | Rosaceae | ( | E | )-linalool oxide | [40] | [33] | ||||||||
Murraya paniculata | Rutaceae | E | -β-ocimene, linalool, α-cubebene | [41,42] | [34][35] | |||||||||
Myrtus communis | L. | Myrtaceae | α-pinene, linalool, 1,8-cineole | [43] | [36] | |||||||||
Osmanthus fragrans | Oleaceae | linalool and its derivatives, α-ionone, β-ionone | OfTPS1, OfTPS2, OfTPS3 | [44,45, | 37][38] | 46, | [39] | 47] | [[40] | |||||
Paeonia | spp. | Paeoniaceae | β-caryophyllene, linalool | [48,49] | [41][42] | |||||||||
Psidium guajava | Myrtaceae | α-cadinol, β-caryophyllene, nerolidol | [50] | [43] | ||||||||||
Rosa | spp. | Rosaceae | geraniol, linalool, nerolidol, myrcene, ocimene, citronellol | NEROLIDOL SYNTHASE (NES), RcLIN-NERS1, RcLIN-NERS2 | [51,52,53,54,55,56] | [44][45][46][47][48][49] | ||||||||
Styrax japonicas | spp. | Styracaceae | linalool, α-pincnc, gcrmacrcnc D | [57] | [50] | |||||||||
Syringa oblata | Lindl. | Oleaceae | D | -limonene | [58,59] | [51][52] | ||||||||
Penstemon digitalis | Plantaginaceae | linalool and its enantiomers, | cis | -and | trans | -β-ocimene | [60,61,62] | [53][54][55] | ||||||
Alstroemeria | spp. | Alstroemeriaceae | ( | E | )-caryophyllene, α-caryophyllene | [63] | [56] | |||||||
Anthurium ‘Mystral’ | Araceae | eucalyptol, β/α-pinene, β-phellandrene, β-Myrcene | [64] | [57] | ||||||||||
Antirhinum majus | Plantaginaceae | nerolidol, linalool, ( | E | )-β-ocimene, myrcene | [65,66] | [58][59] | ||||||||
Arabidopsis thaliana | Brassicaceae | α-copaene, α-caryophyllene, β-elemene | AtTPS21 | , | AtTPS11 | , and other 40 terpenoid synthase genes | [11,67,68,69,70] | [60][61][62][63][64] | ||||||
Aristolochia gigantea | Aristolochiaceae | linalool, ( | Z | , | E | )-α-farnesene, geraniol | [71] | [65] | ||||||
Caladenia plicata | Orchidaceae | β-citronellol | [72] | [66] | ||||||||||
Cannabis sativa | Cannabaceae | (+)-α-pinene, (−)-limonene, β-caryophyllene | [73] | [67] | ||||||||||
Chrysanthemum indicum | Asteraceae | 1,8-cineole, germacrene D, camphor | [74,75] | [68][69] | ||||||||||
Citrus | L. | Rutaceae | linalool, β-myrcene, α-myrcene, limonene | [76] | [70] | |||||||||
Clarkia breweri | Onagraceae | S | -linalool, Linalool, linalool oxide | linalool synthase (LIS) | gene | [77,78] | [71][72] | |||||||
Clematis florida | cv. ‘Kaiser’ | Ranunculaceae | linalool, linalool oxide, nerolidol | CfTPS1, CfTPS2, CfTPS3 | [79] | [73] | ||||||||
Cymbidium | spp. | Orchidaceae | ( | E | )-β-farrnesene, nerolidol, linalool | CgTPS7 | [80,81] | [74][75] | ||||||
Dendrobium officinale | Orchidaceae | α-thujene, linalool, α-terpineol | DoTPS10 | [82,83,84] | [76][77][78] | |||||||||
Dianthus caryophyllus | L. | Caryophyllaceae | caryophyllene, caryophyllene oxide, linalool | [85,86,87] | [79][80][81] | |||||||||
Freesia hybrida. | “Shiny Gold” | Iridaceae | linalool, β-ocimene, D-limonene | FhTPS1, FhTPS2, FhTPS3, FhTPS4, FhTPS5, FhTPS6, FhTPS7, FhTPS8 | [88,89,90] | [82][83][84] | ||||||||
Gymnadenia conopsea | (L.) R. Br. | Orchidaceae | β-myrcene, α-terpineol, (+)-cyclosativene, α-santalene, trans-α-bergamotene, ( | Z | , | E | )-α-farnesene, ( | E | , | E | )-α-farnesene | [91] | [85] | |
Hedychium coronarium | Zingiberaceae | β-ocimene, 1,8-cineole, linalool | HcTPS1, HcTPS3, HcTPS5, HcTPS6, HcTPS7, HcTPS8, HcTPS10, HcTPS11, HcTPS21 | [92,93,] | [86][ | 94, | 87][ | 95, | 88][89] | 96 | [90] | |||
Hippeastrum | spp. | Amaryllidaceae | eucalyptol, ( | Z | )-β-ocimene | [97] | [91] | |||||||
Lathyrus odoratus | Leguminosae | α-bergamotene, linalool, (−)-α-cubebene | [98] | [92] | ||||||||||
Lavandula | spp. | Lamiaceae | linalool acetate, linalool, lavandulyl acetate, α/β-Pinene | LaLIMS, LaLINS | [98,99,100,101, | [93][94 | 102] | [92]][95][96] | ||||||
Lilium | spp. | Liliaceae | linalool, myrcene, ( | E | )-β-ocimene, α-pinene, limonene | LoTPS1, LoTPS2, LoTPS3, LoTPS4 | [103,104,105] | [97][98][99] | ||||||
Maxillaria tenuifolia | Orchidaceae | β-caryophyllene, α-copaene, delta-decalacton | [106] | [100] | ||||||||||
Mentha citrata | Lamiaceae | linalool and its enantiomers | [107] | [101] | ||||||||||
Mimulus | spp. | Phrymaceae | ( | E | )-β-ocimene, d-limonene, β-myrcene | OCIMENE SYNTHASE (OS) | gene | [108,109,110] | [102][103][104] | |||||
Narcissus | spp. | Amaryllidaceae | myrcene, eucalyptol, linalool | [111,112] | [105][106] | |||||||||
Nicotiana | spp. | Solanaceae | ( | E | )-α-bergamotene, ( | E | )-β-ocimene, 1,8-cineole | NaTPS25 | , | NaTPS38 | [113,114,115,116,117] | [107][108][109][110][111] | ||
Nymphaea subg | . Hydrocallis | Nymphaeaceae | linalool, farnesene, nerolidol | [118] | [112] | |||||||||
Ocimum basilicum | L. | Lamiaceae | linalool | [119] | [113] | |||||||||
Petunia hybrida | Solanaceae | germacrene D, β-cadinene | PhTPS1, PhTPS2, PhTPS3, PhTPS4 | [120] | [114] | |||||||||
Passiflora edulis | Sims | Passifloraceae | linalool | PeTPS2, PeTPS3, PeTPS4, PeTPS24 | [14] | [115] | ||||||||
Phalaenopsis | spp. | Orchidaceae | α-pinene, trans-β-ocimene, linalool, geraniol and their derivatives | PbTPS5, PbTPS7, PbTPS9, PbTPS10, PbTPS3, PbTPS4 | [121,122,123] | [116][117][118] | ||||||||
Plectranthus amboinicus | (Lour.) Spreng | Lamiaceae | linalool, nerolidol | [124] | [119] | |||||||||
Polianthes tuberosa | L. | Amaryllidaceae | germacrene D, 1, 8- cineole, α-terpineol | [125,126,127,128] | [120][121][122][123] | |||||||||
Rheum nobile | Polygonaceae | α-pinene | [129] | [124] | ||||||||||
Salvia officinalis | Labiatae | myrcene, (+)-neomenthol, 1,8-cineole | [130] | [125] | ||||||||||
Tanacetum vulgare | Asteraceae | α-pinene, 3-hexen-1-ol-acetate | [131] | [126] |