Human responses to flower fragrance of Lilium ‘Siberia’ and Rosa ‘Escimo’

The objective of our study was to lay a foundation for the effect of flower flagrance on human emotions and to provide a theory for the choice of indoor plants and the improvement of the olfactory environment. Specifically, our purpose was to study human physiological responses to flower fragrance of Lilium ＇Siberia＇ and Rosa ＇Escimo＇. The participants were 31 college students. Blood pressure, pulse rate, finger temperature （FT） and galvanic skin response （GSR） were measured. The results show that the fragrance of Rosa ＇Escimo＇ causes the diastolic pressure and pulse rate of the participants to reduce significantly. The average decrease was 0.37 kPa and 2.23 beats per minute, which indicates that sympathetic nervous activity increases, physiological arousal decreases and emotional alleviation occurs. Furthermore, the GSR of participants significantly increased by smelling the fragrance of Lilium ＇Siberia＇, indicating that both sympathetic nervous activity and physiological arousal increased. But the data could not prove that flower fragrance stimulation has an effect on changes in systolic pressure and finger temperature. Some other factors, such as basic emotion and weather, may have an effect.

The Jasmine(Jasminum sambac)Genome Provides Insight into the Biosynthesis of Flower Fragrances and Jasmonates

Jasminum sambac(jasmine flower),a world-renowned plant appreciated for its exceptional flower fragrance,is of cultural and economic importance.However,the genetic basis of its fragrance is largely unknown.Here,we present the first de novo genome assembly of J.sambac with 550.12 Mb(scaffold N50=40.10 Mb)assembled into 13 pseudochromosomes.Terpene synthase(TPS)genes associated with flower fragrance are considerably amplified in the form of gene clusters through tandem duplications in the genome.Gene clusters within the salicylic acid/benzoic acid/theobromine(SABATH)and benzylalcohol O-acetyltransferase/anthocyanin O-hydroxycinnamoyltransferases/anthranilate N-hydroxycinnamoyl/benzoyltransferase/deacetylvindoline 4-O-acetyltransferase(BAHD)superfamilies were identified to be related to the biosynthesis of phenylpropanoid/benzenoid compounds.Several key genes involved in jasmonate biosynthesis were duplicated,causing an increase in copy numbers.In addition,multi-omics analyses identified various aromatic compounds and many genes involved in fragrance biosynthesis pathways.Furthermore,the roles of JsTPS3 in b-ocimene biosynthesis,as well as JsAOC1 and JsAOS in jasmonic acid biosynthesis,were functionally validated.The genome assembled in this study for J.sambac offers a basic genetic resource for studying floral scent and jasmonate biosynthesis,and provides a foundation for functional genomic research and variety improvements in Jasminum.

Are eavesdroppers multimodal？ Sensory exploitation of floral signals by a non-native cockroach Blatta orientalis

The study of multi-modal communication has only recently been extended to innate and learned interactions between flowers and their animal visitors, and usually only to pollinators. Here we studied the relevance of floral scent and visual display of a night blooming, putatively hawkmoth-pollinated plant Oenothera acaulis （Onagraceae） in the attraction of non-native cockroaches Blatta orientalis （Blattodea： Blattidae）, which function as facultative floral larcenists in coastal habitats of central Chile. We experimentally decoupled visual （corolla） and olfactory （fragrance） stimuli by presenting paper corollas and green mesh bags, with or without a freshly-picked natural flower inside. We then contrasted the behavioral responses of roaches in these treatments with those to the natural combination of traits in actual flowers and their respective control treatments, measuring the roaches＇ frequency of first visits, mean and total residence time spent in each treatment. The roaches primarily used olfactory cues when approaching O. acaulis flowers at two biologically relevant spatial scales. In addition, the presence of conspecific roaches had a strong influence on recruitment to the experimental arena, increasing the statistical differences among treatments. Our results suggest a primacy of floral fragrance over visual stimuli in the foraging responses of B. orientalis. Olfactory cues were necessary and sufficient to attract the roaches, and the visual cues presented in our manipulations only marginally increased their attraction within a 20 cm diameter of the stimulus. The full spectrum of floral visitation behavior was not elicited by the artificial flowers, suggesting the need for additional tactile or contact chemosensory stimuli not provided by paper. Although the nitrogenous scent compounds that we found in O. acaulis flowers are almost exclusively found in hawkmoth-pollinated flowers, the attractiveness of these compounds to a non-native, facultative flower-visiting insect indicates that they do not function as pollinator-specific signals for hawkmoth attraction .