Anthocyanins in Floral Colors: Biosynthesis and Regulation in Chrysanthemum Flowers

Abstract

Chrysanthemum (Chrysanthemum morifolium) is an economically important ornamental crop across the globe. As floral color is the major factor determining customer selection, manipulation of floral color has been a major objective for breeders. Anthocyanins are one of the main pigments contributing to a broad variety of colors in the ray florets of chrysanthemum. Manipulating petal pigments has resulted in the development of a vast range of floral colors. Although the candidate genes involved in anthocyanin biosynthesis have been well studied, the genetic and transcriptional control of floral color remains unclear. Despite advances in multi-omics technology, these methods remain in their infancy in chrysanthemum, owing to its large complex genome and hexaploidy. Hence, there is a need to further elucidate and better understand the genetic and molecular regulatory mechanisms in chrysanthemum, which can provide a basis for future advances in breeding for novel and diverse floral colors in this commercially beneficial crop. Therefore, this review describes the significance of anthocyanins in chrysanthemum flowers, and the mechanism of anthocyanin biosynthesis under genetic and environmental factors, providing insight into the development of novel colored ray florets. Genetic and molecular regulatory mechanisms that control anthocyanin biosynthesis and the various breeding efforts to modify floral color in chrysanthemum are detailed.

Genetic Differentiation in Anthocyanin Content among Berry Fruits

“…Additionally, apart from the floral parts, anthocyanins often occur transiently in the root, stem, fruits, and leaf tissues of plants at specific developmental stages in response to unfavorable environmental factors, including UV radiation, cold temperatures, and water stress. They play an important role in the natural protective mechanism of plants [3,13].…”

“…Anthocyanins have been associated with a wide range of biological and pharmacological properties. They are also effective in the prevention and treatment of many chronic diseases [11][12][13][14]. They exhibit antioxidant activity and inactivating properties against free radicals; moreover, anthocyanins can provide anti-inflammatory, antiviral, and anticancer effects [14].…”

The PsMYB12L/PsDFR Module is Involved in Double-Color Formation in Paeonia Suffruticosa ‘Shima Nishiki’

“…As for the main transcription factors (MYB, bHLH, WD40, etc) related to ower color, they often indirectly affect anthocyanin biosynthesis and accumulation, and then mediate ower color formation and difference by regulating the expression of structural genes related to anthocyanin biosynthesis [41]. Among these transcription factors, R2R3-MYB has a relatively greater in uence on the formation of ower color phenotype [42][43][44].…”

The Compositional Aspects of Edible Flowers as an Emerging Horticultural Product

“…Anthocyanins are natural pigments, capable of conferring attractive coloration on flowers in shades of orange, red, pink and blue [61,62], and although they have numerous derivatives in nature, the main components usually found are malvidin, petunidin, pelargonidin, peonidin, cyanidin and delphinidin [63,64]. They are related to the defense system of plants, being induced under conditions of abiotic stress (light and heat stress, water and nutrient deficit), biotic stress (attack by hebivores and microorganisms) or non-stress conditions (increase in leaf temperature, nutrient transport and regulation of osmotic balance) [65].…”