Flower Color and Its Engineering by Genetic Modification

Okitsu, Naoko; Noda, Naonobu; Chandler, Stephen F.; Tanaka, Yoshikazu

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-90698-0_3

Cited by 17 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 129 publications

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“…To produce delphinidins or malvidins it is necessary the enzyme flavonoid 3 5 hydroxylase (F3 5 H), which is proposed as the most recent addition to the anthocyanin biosynthetic pathway (Campanella et al, 2014). Our results show that similar blue loci in both bee and fly colour space may result from flowers with cyanidin and pelargonidins through a variety of biochemical or cellular modifications (Harborne and Williams, 2000;Okitsu et al, 2018). Thus, blue colour in flowers can be produced through the three main biosynthetic branches of the anthocyanin pathway (i.e., cyanidin, delphinidin, pelargonidin branches; Grotewold, 2006;Tanaka et al, 2008), which originates an interesting case of phenotypic convergence (Larter et al, 2018).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 76%

Major Flower Pigments Originate Different Colour Signals to Pollinators

et al. 2021

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Flower colour is mainly due to the presence and type of pigments. Pollinator preferences impose selection on flower colour that ultimately acts on flower pigments. Knowing how pollinators perceive flowers with different pigments becomes crucial for a comprehensive understanding of plant-pollinator communication and flower colour evolution. Based on colour space models, we studied whether main groups of pollinators, specifically hymenopterans, dipterans, lepidopterans and birds, differentially perceive flower colours generated by major pigment groups. We obtain reflectance data and conspicuousness to pollinators of flowers containing one of the pigment groups more frequent in flowers: chlorophylls, carotenoids and flavonoids. Flavonoids were subsequently classified in UV-absorbing flavonoids, aurones-chalcones and the anthocyanins cyanidin, pelargonidin, delphinidin, and malvidin derivatives. We found that flower colour loci of chlorophylls, carotenoids, UV-absorbing flavonoids, aurones-chalcones, and anthocyanins occupied different regions of the colour space models of these pollinators. The four groups of anthocyanins produced a unique cluster of colour loci. Interestingly, differences in colour conspicuousness among the pigment groups were almost similar in the bee, fly, butterfly, and bird visual space models. Aurones-chalcones showed the highest chromatic contrast values, carotenoids displayed intermediate values, and chlorophylls, UV-absorbing flavonoids and anthocyanins presented the lowest values. In the visual model of bees, flowers with UV-absorbing flavonoids (i.e., white flowers) generated the highest achromatic contrasts. Ours findings suggest that in spite of the almost omnipresence of floral anthocyanins in angiosperms, carotenoids and aurones-chalcones generates higher colour conspicuousness for main functional groups of pollinators.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 76%

Major Flower Pigments Originate Different Colour Signals to Pollinators

et al. 2021

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“…In comparison to the violet region, the blue region possessed similar apigenin but accumulated 2.5fold higher cyanidins, suggesting that an appropriate accumulation of cyanidins played an important role in blue colour development in cornflower, which led to further exploration of the potential regulatory mechanisms. Flavanone-3-hydroxylase (F3H) is the first key enzyme determining the cyanidin flux, and dihydroflavonol 4-reductase (DFR) catalysed the transformation of dihydroquercetin to leucocyanidin, both of which play crucial roles in cyanidin biosynthesis [2]. Therefore, the promoters of CcF3H and CcDFR were obtained by genome walking technology with a length of 1644 bp and 1510 bp, respectively, to clarify the possible regulatory roles of CcMYBs and CcbHLH1 in cyanidin biosynthesis.…”

Section: Identification Of Tfs Regulating Cyanidin Biosynthesismentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Flower colour is one of the most attractive traits in ornamental plants, in which blue flowers harvest the consumers' preference for their rare and fantastic sight. Previous studies have illustrated that flavonoids play key roles in the vivid petal colouration, in which anthocyanin is the crucial pigment, while other flavonoids often act as co-pigments [1][2][3]. The anthocyanin aglycons can be mainly divided into cyanidin, pelargonidin, delphinidin, peonidin, petunidin, malvidin and hirsutidin based on the hydroxylation and methylation patterns of their B-rings.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Metabolite and transcriptome analyses provide new insights into the generation of the blue supramolecular pigment in cornflower

Deng¹,

Wang²,

Lu³

et al. 2019

Preprint

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Background Generally, cyanidin facilitates pink to red petal colours, whereas it causes the expression of a vivid blue colour in cornflower. Previous chemical studies show that the pure blue colour in cornflower petals originates from a blue supramolecular pigment composed of cyanidins, apigenins and metal ions in a stoichiometric ratio, suggesting that the generation of this blue pigment complex is precisely regulated. However, the potential molecular mechanism remains unclear, restricting the innovation of blue cultivars in flowers originally accumulating cyanidin derivatives.Results In the present study, we traced the dynamic changes in petal colour from white to violet and, finally, to blue on the same petal in cornflower. Pigment analysis showed that apigenin biosynthesis started in the white region and peaked in the violet and blue regions, while cyanidin accumulated in the blue region to almost 2.5-fold higher than that in the violet region, suggesting that the content ratio of the two flavonoids plays a key role in blue colour development. Nine libraries from the above three colour regions were constructed for RNA-Seq, and 105,506 unigenes were obtained by de novo assembly. The differentially expressed genes among the three colour regions were significantly enriched in the phenylpropanoid biosynthesis and flavonoid biosynthesis pathways, leading to the excavation and analysis of 46 structural genes. Moreover, the R2R3-MYB and IIIf bHLH proteins were identified as cyanidin biosynthetic activators by both the dual luciferase reporter assay and transient over-expression in tobacco leaves. Moreover, eight differentially expressed unigenes possibly involved in metal ion transport, storage, tolerance and chelating processes were screened out.Conclusion The co-existence as well as the appropriate ratio of cyanidin and apigenin directly influence the blue colour development in cornflower. CcMYB6-1 and CcbHLH1 are identified as activators in regulating cyanidin biosynthesis and metal ion related gene resources that may be involved in chelating with flavonoids are also mined. These obtained results provide new insights into the generation of the blue supramolecular pigment in cornflower.

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“…The transgenic petunia plants developed orange-red flower phenotype due to synthesis and accumulation of the pelargonidin-type derivatives that are not produced in RL01 owing to the limited substrate specificity of the petunia dihydroflavonol 4-reductase [4]. Since then, significant progress in the alteration of flower color has been achieved by genetic modifications of anthocyanin biosynthesis in many different plant species by using various genes or combinations of genes of this pathway [5][6][7][8].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Alteration of Flower Color in Viola cornuta cv. “Lutea Splendens” through Metabolic Engineering of Capsanthin/Capsorubin Synthesis

et al. 2021

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Flower color is an important characteristic that determines the commercial value of ornamental plants. The development of modern biotechnology methods such as genetic engineering enables the creation of new flower colors that cannot be achieved with classical methods of hybridization or mutational breeding. This is the first report on the successful Agrobacterium-mediated genetic transformation of Viola cornuta L. The hypocotyl explants of cv. “Lutea Splendens” variety with yellow flowers were transformed with A. tumefaciens carrying empty pWBVec10a vector (Llccs−) or pWBVec10a/CaMV 35S::Llccs::TNos vector (Llccs+) for capsanthin/capsorubin synthase gene (Llccs) from tiger lily (Lilium lancifolium). A comparative study of shoot multiplication, rooting ability during culture in vitro, as well as phenotypic characteristics of untransformed (control) and transgenic Llccs− and Llccs+ plants during ex vitro growth and flowering is presented. Successful integration of Llccs transgene allows the synthesis of red pigment capsanthin in petal cells that gives flowers different shades of an orange/reddish color. We demonstrate that the ectopic expression of Llccs gene in ornamental plants, such as V. cornuta “Lutea Splendens” could successfully be used to change flower color from yellow to different shades of orange.

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Flower Color and Its Engineering by Genetic Modification

Cited by 17 publications

References 129 publications

Major Flower Pigments Originate Different Colour Signals to Pollinators

Major Flower Pigments Originate Different Colour Signals to Pollinators

Metabolite and transcriptome analyses provide new insights into the generation of the blue supramolecular pigment in cornflower

Alteration of Flower Color in Viola cornuta cv. “Lutea Splendens” through Metabolic Engineering of Capsanthin/Capsorubin Synthesis

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