Fruit skin color and the role of anthocyanin

Abstract

Fruit skin coloration is a unique phase in the life cycle of fruiting plants and is mainly attributed to anthocyanin pigments. Anthocyanins are the largest and most diverse group of plant pigments derived from the phenyl propanoid pathway. They are water-soluble phenolic compounds that form part of a large and common group of plant flavonoids. Coloration encompasses several physiological and biochemical changes that happen through differential expression of various developmentally regulated genes. Due to research importance and economic value, Arabidopsis thaliana (chromosome no. = 5) and Vitis vinifera (chromosome no. = 19) have been used for investigations of the structural genes involved in anthocyanin biosynthesis. Thus for this review, V. vinifera is used as a model crop. In anthocyanin biosynthesis, a wide range of constructive genes including phenylalanine ammonia lyase, chalcone synthase and anthocyanidin synthase that are regulated by MYB transcription factors are involved. These genes are coordinately expressed and their levels of expression are positively related to the anthocyanin concentrations. Expression or suppression of the constructive genes contributes to a variety of changes that make fruits visually attractive and edible. Transgenic approaches also have discovered a strong relationship between phenyl propanoid/flavonoid gene expressions for fruit skin coloration. In this study, various developments that have taken place in the last decade with respect to identifying and altering the function of color-related genes are described.

The control of red colour by a family of MYB transcription factors in octoploid strawberry (Fragaria × ananassa) fruits

“…Horticulturists have long been interested in breeding different varieties of plants with fruits having bright colours, saturated hues, sweet taste and high nutritional value, among which attractive fruit colour is one of the most desirable horticultural traits (Kayesh et al , ; Pillet et al , ). The quantity and variability of flavonoids control strawberry fruit coloration in both wild diploid and cultivated octoploid strawberry varieties (Lin‐Wang et al , ; Schaart et al , ).…”

5-Aminolevulinic acid affects fruit coloration, growth, and nutrition quality of Litchi chinensis Sonn. cv. Feizixiao in Hainan, tropical China

“…Hotta et al (1997a) showed that 5-ALA could regulate the synthesis of chlorophyll; this might have been the reason why it could not promote the degradation of pericarp chlorophyll. However, 5-ALA could significantly promote anthocyanin accumulation in litchi pericarp, and fruit skin coloration was mainly attributed to anthocyanin pigments (Kayesh et al, 2013). Therefore, 5-ALA might regulate litchi fruit coloring mainly by controlling anthocyanin synthesis, rather than by causing the degradation of chlorophyll.…”

“…Many enzymes are involved in anthocyanin biosynthesis, such as phenylalanine ammonia lyase (PAL), chalcone isomerase (CHI), dihydroflavonol-4-reductase (DFR), anthocyanidin synthase, and flavonoid-3-O-glucosyltransferase (UFGT; Kayesh et al, 2013;Petroni and Tonelli, 2011). Wang et al (2004b) indicated that the activities of PAL, CHI, and DFR had no effect on anthocyanin content in litchi pericarp, but UFGT was closely related to anthocyanin content during the maturation of 'Feizixiao' litchi fruit.…”

Extraction of Eco-friendly Natural Dyes from Tradescantia pallida Purpurea and Cynomorium coccineum Growing Naturally in Tunisia

“…The consumption of the natural products has improved due to the global development of maintaining good health and reducing the risk of disease [1][2][3]. In this setting, many plants were studied.…”