Physiological and genetic analysis ofArabidopsis thalianaanthocyanin biosynthesis mutants under chronic adverse environmental conditions

Abstract

Anthocyanin production is a characteristic response of flowering plants to unfavourable environmental conditions. The potential roles of flavonoids and anthocyanins in plant growth were investigated by growing Arabidopsis thaliana anthocyanin production mutants (transparent testa) under limiting nitrogen and high light conditions. Inability to produce kaempferol or subsequent intermediate compounds by some transparent testa lines was correlated with less biomass accumulation in mature plants compared with wild-type control plants under all growth conditions tested. However, under both limiting nitrogen and high light chronic stress conditions, mutant lines defective in later steps of the anthocyanin production pathway produced the same or more biomass than wild-type plants. No difference in senescence between transparent testa and wild-type plants was found using chlorophyll catabolism and SAG12 expression measurements, and no mutants were impaired in the ability to remobilize nutrients from the vegetative to reproductive tissues. Moreover, the absence of anthocyanin and/or upstream flavonoids does not affect the ability of plants to respond to limiting nitrogen by reducing photosynthetic capacity. These results support a role for kaempferol and quercetin accumulation in normal plant growth and development. Further, the absence of anthocyanins has no effect on plant growth under the chronic stress conditions tested.

Silencing CHALCONE SYNTHASE in Maize Impedes the Incorporation of Tricin into Lignin and Increases Lignin Content

“…In previous work, the dry weight and stem height measurements of an Arabidopsis chs mutant did not differ from those of control plants Vanholme et al, 2010b). In a different study using the same chs mutant, reduced growth was observed versus control plants when grown under adverse environmental growth conditions, such as high light intensity and nitrogen starvation (Misyura et al, 2013), indicating that the growth phenotype is dependent on the environment. C2-Idf maize plants might allocate more carbon to biomass production by saving on plant defense compounds (among which flavonoids are made via CHS).…”

Mineral deficiencies influence on tomato leaves: pigments, hydrogen peroxide and total phenolic compounds contents

“…However, wide ranges of primary and secondary metabolites are involved in the stress tolerance (Arbona et al, 2013;Ramalingam et al, 2015;Rodziewicz et al, 2014). Under different treatments, anthocyanin accumulation is considered as a positive response to oxidative stress (Diaz et al, 2006;Hughes et al, 2010;Misyura et al, 2012). In addition, the accumulation of carotenoids is regarded to suppress the oxidation (Cao et al, 2015).…”

Use of the polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) technique to analyse the Anthocyanidin Synthase (ANS) gene Locus in Zimbabwean sorghum landraces with different seed proanthocyanidin profiles

“…It is important to identify such mutations and establish their exact effects on the flavonoid pathway and on flavonoid profiles. Such studies have been carried out in other plants like arabidopsis, alfalfa and barley (Misyura et al, 2012;Abrahams et al, 2002;Bowerman et al, 2012;Buer and Djordjevic, 2009;von Wettstein 2007). However, similar studies are yet to be carried out in sorghum, hence this study is aimed at attempting to establish a link between sequence polymorphisms at the ANS gene locus and differences in proanthocyanidin profiles in sorghum.…”

“…Our interest is to find out if any sequence polymorphisms at this locus may explain observed differences in grain proanthocyanidin profiles. A number of flavonoid ANS gene mutants in Arabidopsis, namely tt 11, tt17 and tt 18 (tds-4) have been identified and characterised in Arabidopsis and alfalfa, both at the biochemical and molecular level (Misyura et al, 2012;Bowerman et al, 2012;Abrahams et al, 2002;Buer and Djordjevic, 2009). All these mutants were characterised by altered flavonoid profiles and deposition patterns in the grain.…”