The “Spring-red-leaf” crabapple cultivar has young red leaves and mature green leaves. However, the mechanism of anthocyanin biosynthesis in crabapple leaves in spring remains unknown. In this study, Illumina RNA sequencing (RNA-Seq) was performed on Malus ‘Radiant’ leaf tissues in different stages of development. Twenty-two genes in the anthocyanin biosynthesis pathway and 44 MYB transcription factors (TFs) were significantly enriched among differentially expressed genes (DEGs). Three R2R3-MYB TFs in subgroup 22 of the MYB TF family, MrMYB44-like1, MrMYB44-like2, and MrMYB44-like3, were highly expressed in green leaves according to RNA-Seq and quantitative real-time quantitative PCR results. Their expression levels were negatively correlated with anthocyanin content. In transient assays, overexpression of MrMYB44-like1, MrMYB44-like2, or MrMYB44-like3 inhibited anthocyanin accumulation and reduced pigment in leaf disks of M. ‘Radiant’ and fruit peels of M. domestica ‘Fuji.’ When the conserved region of the three MrMYB44-likes was silenced, the anthocyanin biosynthesis pathway was activated and pigments increased in both tissues. Moreover, bimolecular fluorescence complementation assays showed MrMYB44-likes interacted with MrWRKY6 to form protein complexes that regulated anthocyanin biosynthesis.

The anthocyanin content increases in Malus spectabilis leaves under low-nitrogen conditions. Noncoding RNAs are indicated to play key regulatory roles in anthocyanin biosynthesis. However, the functional roles of noncoding RNAs in anthocyanin biosynthesis under lownitrogen conditions remain elusive.In this study, miR858 was screened as a key regulator of anthocyanin biosynthesis under low-nitrogen conditions through whole-transcriptome sequencing. Then, we used miR858 as an entry point to explore the regulatory network of lncRNA-miRNA-mRNA by dual-luciferase reporter assays and GUS histochemical staining assays, as well as to identify the mechanism of this regulatory network in anthocyanin biosynthesis by both transient and stable transformation experiments in Malus.MiR858 overexpression increased total anthocyanin content. MiR858 acted by negatively regulating its target gene, MsMYB62-like, under the low-nitrogen condition. MsMYB62-like inhibited the expression of MsF3 0 H, thereby negatively regulating anthocyanin biosynthesis. In addition, eTM858-1 and eTM858-2 were identified as endogenous target mimics of miR858 that bind to miR858 to prevent cleavage of MsMYB62-like and thereby negatively regulate anthocyanin biosynthesis.The results clarify the mechanism through which the eTM-miR858-MYB62-like module regulates anthocyanin biosynthesis in Malus under low-nitrogen conditions.

Pericarp color is an important economic characteristic of Zanthoxylum bungeanum. Anthocyanins are the main reason for the pericarp’s red appearance in Z. bungeanum. In this study, through the combined analysis of the metabolome and transcriptome, HY5, whose expression is highly correlated to changes in the anthocyanin content, was screened and identified. Under natural ripening conditions, the Z. bungeanum fruit gradually changed in color from green to red, while bagging resulted in the fruit maintaining its green color. After unbagging, the fruit gradually turned red, and the ZbHY5 expression and anthocyanin content increased. In addition, the leaves changed from green to red after exposure to UV-B radiation, and the ZbHY5 expression and anthocyanin content increased. The transient overexpression of ZbHY5 deepened the redness of the Z. bungeanum leaves and promoted the expression of ZbHY5 and ZbMYB113 as well as anthocyanin accumulation. Bimolecular fluorescence complementation (BIFC) showed that there was an interaction between ZbHY5 and ZbMYB113. These results revealed that under UV-B irradiation, ZbHY5 might regulate the expression levels of the structural genes related to anthocyanin biosynthesis through combination with ZbMYB113, thereby affecting anthocyanin accumulation. This finding provides useful insights for further studies focusing on UV-B-induced anthocyanin accumulation in Z. bungeanum.