Leaf color is affected primarily by the content and proportion of various pigments. Not only do photosynthetic pigments display various colors, they are also key to the physiological activities of plants. To precisely elucidate the mechanisms of chlorophyll and carotenoid biosynthesis and their interactions in red maple, transcriptomic and metabolomic profiling were performed on green, red and yellow leaves from a selected red maple mutant. In the chlorophyll pathway, ArPOR1, ArCLH2, and ArCLH4 positively regulated chlorophyll a, and made it the dominant pigment in green leaves, whereas ArNOL8 and ArNOL14 negatively regulated chlorophyll synthesis. In the carotenoid pathway, under the positive regulation of ArLUT5-1 and ArLUT5-4, the synthesis of carotenoids changed from α-branch to β-branch during the gradual senescence of leaves. Through integrated data analysis, we obtained genes that directly coordinated between carotenoid and chlorophyll biosynthesis. Ultimately, the results of this paper will be a valuable resource for future research on gene-to-metabolite correlations in red maple, and provide basic information toward facilitating the improvement of color in foliage plants.

叶色主要受各种色素含量和比例的影响。光合色素不仅显示出各种颜色，而且还是植物生理活动的关键。为了精确阐明叶绿素和类胡萝卜素的生物合成机制及其在红枫中的相互作用，对来自所选红枫突变体的绿色，红色和黄色叶片进行了转录组学和代谢组学分析。在叶绿素途径中，ArPOR1，ArCLH2和ArCLH4积极调节叶绿素a，使其成为绿叶中的主要色素，而ArNOL8和ArNOL14负调控的叶绿素合成。在类胡萝卜素途径中，在ArLUT5-1和ArLUT5-4的正调控下，类胡萝卜素的合成在叶片逐渐衰老期间从α分支变为β分支。通过综合数据分析，我们获得了类胡萝卜素和叶绿素生物合成之间直接协调的基因。最终，本文的结果将为将来在红枫中的基因-代谢物相关性研究提供宝贵的资源，并为促进改善观叶植物的颜色提供基础信息。