Constitutive Activation of an Anthocyanin Regulatory Gene PcMYB10.6 Is Related to Red Coloration in Purple-Foliage Plum

Cherry plum is a popular ornamental tree worldwide and most cultivars are selected for purple foliage. Here, we report the investigation of molecular mechanism underlying red pigmentation in purple-leaf plum ‘Ziyeli’ (Prunus cerasifera Ehrhar f. atropurpurea (Jacq.) Rehd.), which shows red color pigmentation in fruit (flesh and skin) and foliage. Six anthocyanin-activating MYB genes, designated PcMYB10.1 to PcMYB10.6, were isolated based on RNA-Seq data from leaves of cv. Ziyeli. Of these PcMYB10 genes, five (PcMYB10.1 through PcMYB10.5) show distinct spatial and temporal expression patterns, while the PcMYB10.6 gene is highly expressed in all the purple-coloured organs of cv. Ziyeli. Constitutive activation of PcMYB10.6 is closely related to red pigmentation in the leaf, fruit (flesh and skin), and sepal. However, the PcMYB10.6 activation cannot induce red pigmentation in the petal of cv. Ziyeli during late stages of flower development due to due to a lack of expression of PcUFGT. The inhibition of red pigmentation in the petal of cherry plum could be attributed to the high-level expression of PcANR that directs anthocyanidin flux to proanthocyanidin biosynthesis. In addition, PcMYB10.2 is highly expressed in fruit and sepal, but its expression cannot induce red pigmentation. This suggests the PcMYB10 gene family in cherry plum may have diverged in function and PcMYB10.2 plays little role in the regulation of red pigmentation. Our study provides for the first time an example of constitutive activation of an anthocyanin-activating MYB gene in Prunus although its underlying mechanism remains unclear.     

Flower Colour Modification of Chrysanthemum by Suppression of F3'H and Overexpression of the Exogenous Senecio cruentus F3'5'H Gene

Chrysanthemum (Chrysanthemum × morifolium) is one of the most important ornamental plants in the world. They are typically used as cut flowers or potted plants. Chrysanthemum can exhibit red, purple, pink, yellow and white flowers, but lack bright red and blue flowers. In this study, we identified two chrysanthemum cultivars, C × morifolium ‘LPi’ and C × morifolium ‘LPu’, that only accumulate flavonoids in their ligulate flowers. Next, we isolated seven anthocyanin biosynthesis genes, namely CmCHS, CmF3H, CmF3’H, CmDFR, CmANS, CmCHI and Cm3GT in these cultivars. RT-PCR and qRT-PCR analyses showed that CmF3′H was the most important enzyme required for cyanidin biosynthsis. To rebuild the delphinidin pathway, we downregulated CmF3’H using RNAi and overexpressed the Senecio cruentus F3′5′H (PCFH) gene in chrysanthemum. The resultant chrysanthemum demonstrated a significantly increased content of cyanidin and brighter red flower petals but did not accumulate delphinidin. These results indicated that CmF3′H in chrysanthemum is important for anthocyanin accumulation, and Senecio cruentus F3′5′H only exhibited F3′H activity in chrysanthemum but did not rebuild the delphinidin pathway to form blue flower chrysanthemum.     

Coordinated regulation of anthocyanin biosynthesis through photorespiration and temperature in peach (Prunus persica f. atropurpurea)

The usual red color of young leaves of peach (Prunus persica f. atropurpurea) is due to the accumulation of anthocyanin. Real-time PCR analysis revealed a strong correlation between the expression levels of anthocyanin biosynthetic genes and anthocyanin content in leaves at different developmental stages. The expression profiles of both anthocyanin biosynthetic genes and photorespiratory genes showed significant changes in leaves held in the dark or exposed to heat stress, compared with controls. The expression of anthocyanin biosynthetic genes dramatically decreased in peach red leaves following dark or heat treatments, resulting in a significant decrease of anthocyanin accumulation. However, the photorespiration-related genes GDCH and GOX exhibited increased expression in peach leaves after dark or heat treatment. Moreover, the expression levels of GDCH and GOX in the Arabidopsis chi/f3′h mutant that does not accumulate anthocyanins were higher than in the wild type. Overall, these results support the hypothesis that photorespiration-related genes might be involved in the regulation of anthocyanin biosynthesis. This finding provides a new insight into our understanding of the mechanism underlying the control of anthocyanin biosynthesis in plants.     

Exploring Candidate Genes for Pericarp Russet Pigmentation of Sand Pear (Pyrus pyrifolia) via RNA-Seq Data in Two Genotypes Contrasting for Pericarp Color

Sand pear (Pyrus pyrifolia) russet pericarp is an important trait affecting both the quality and stress tolerance of fruits. This trait is controlled by a relative complex genetic process, with some fundamental biological questions such as how many and which genes are involved in the process remaining elusive. In this study, we explored differentially expressed genes between the russet- and green-pericarp offspring from the sand pear (Pyrus pyrifolia) cv. ‘Qingxiang’ × ‘Cuiguan’ F1 group by RNA-seq-based bulked segregant analysis (BSA). A total of 29,100 unigenes were identified and 206 of which showed significant differences in expression level (log₂fold values>1) between the two types of pericarp pools. Gene Ontology (GO) analyses detected 123 unigenes in GO terms related to ‘cellular_component’ and ‘biological_process’, suggesting developmental and growth differentiations between the two types. GO categories associated with various aspects of ‘lipid metabolic processes’, ‘transport’, ‘response to stress’, ‘oxidation-reduction process’ and more were enriched with genes with divergent expressions between the two libraries. Detailed examination of a selected set of these categories revealed repressed expressions of candidate genes for suberin, cutin and wax biosynthesis in the russet pericarps.Genes encoding putative cinnamoyl-CoA reductase (CCR), cinnamyl alcohol dehydrogenase (CAD) and peroxidase (POD) that are involved in the lignin biosynthesis were suggested to be candidates for pigmentation of sand pear russet pericarps. Nine differentially expressed genes were analyzed for their expressions using qRT-PCR and the results were consistent with those obtained from Illumina RNA-sequencing. This study provides a comprehensive molecular biology insight into the sand pear pericarp pigmentation and appearance quality formation.     

Differential expression of anthocyanin biosynthetic genes in relation to anthocyanin accumulation in the pericarp of Litchi chinensis Sonn

Litchi has diverse fruit color phenotypes, yet no research reflects the biochemical background of this diversity. In this study, we evaluated 12 litchi cultivars for chromatic parameters and pigments, and investigated the effects of abscisic acid, forchlorofenron (CPPU), bagging and debagging treatments on fruit coloration in cv. Feizixiao, an unevenly red cultivar. Six genes encoding chalcone synthase (CHS), chalcone isomerase (CHI), flavanone 3-hydroxylase (F3H), dihydroflavonol 4-reductase (DFR), anthocyanidin synthase (ANS) and UDP-glucose: flavonoid 3-O-glucosyltransferase (UFGT) were isolated from the pericarp of the fully red litchi cv. Nuomici, and their expression was analyzed in different cultivars and under the above mentioned treatments. Pericarp anthocyanin concentration varied from none to 734 mg m⁻² among the 12 litchi cultivars, which were divided into three coloration types, i.e. non-red (‘Kuixingqingpitian’, ‘Xingqiumili’, ‘Yamulong’and ‘Yongxing No. 2′), unevenly red (‘Feizixiao’ and ‘Sanyuehong’) and fully red (‘Meiguili’, ‘Baila’, Baitangying’ ’Guiwei’, ‘Nuomici’ and ‘Guinuo’). The fully red type cultivars had different levels of anthocyanin but with the same composition. The expression of the six genes, especially LcF3H, LcDFR, LcANS and LcUFGT, in the pericarp of non-red cultivars was much weaker as compared to those red cultivars. Their expression, LcDFR and LcUFGT in particular, was positively correlated with anthocyanin concentrations in the pericarp. These results suggest the late genes in the anthocyanin biosynthetic pathway were coordinately expressed during red coloration of litchi fruits. Low expression of these genes resulted in absence or extremely low anthocyanin accumulation in non-red cultivars. Zero-red pericarp from either immature or CPPU treated fruits appeared to be lacking in anthocyanins due to the absence of UFGT expression. Among these six genes, only the expression of UFGT was found significantly correlated with the pericarp anthocyanin concentration (r = 0.84). These results suggest that UFGT played a predominant role in the anthocyanin accumulation in litchi as well as pericarp coloration of a given cultivar.