Transcriptional regulation of anthocyanin biosynthesis in red cabbage

Abstract

The color of red cabbage (Brassica oleracea var. capitata) is due to anthocyanin accumulation. To investigate the regulatory control of anthocyanin production in red cabbage, the expression of anthocyanin biosynthetic and regulatory genes from eight commercial cultivars was examined. While the four green varieties had negligible amount of anthocyanins under normal growth condition, the four red cultivars contained up to 1.60 mg g(-1) fresh weight. HPLC analysis of the four red cultivars revealed that they produced similar composition of various forms of cyanidin glucosides but at different concentrations. Molecular analysis indicated that all the red cabbage shared common mechanism of regulatory control for anthocyanin biosynthesis. Except CHI which showed similar expression levels between green and red cultivars, the other structural genes, CHS, F3H, F3'H, DFR, LDOX, and GST, were constitutively up-regulated during all stages of vegetative growth in red varieties. The expression of these structural genes was also dramatically increased in green and red cabbage under nutrient stresses. The increased expression of the structural genes coincided with a coordinated increase in transcript levels of a bHLH gene, BoTT8, and a MYB transcription factor, BoMYB2. These results indicate that activation of these two regulatory factors by unknown mechanisms constitutively up-regulates nearly the entire pathway genes for the onset of anthocyanin biosynthesis in red cabbage. Moreover, the amount of total anthocyanins in red cabbage was found to be positively correlated with total antioxidant power, implicating the potential health benefit of red cabbage to human health.

Coordinated regulation of anthocyanin biosynthesis in Chinese bayberry (Myrica rubra) fruit by a R2R3 MYB transcription factor

“…These genes were expressed in a highly correlative way with MrMYB1 expression, as cultivar, tissue and light regulation were consistent with a primary effect on MrMYB1, which then affects the pathways expression. CHS and CHI were least influenced by tissue, cultivar or fruit bagging treatments, suggesting its non-rate limiting role in anthocyanin biosynthesis, as has been observed in some other plant species (Ju et al 1995;Boss et al 1996;Lo Piero et al 2005;Ahmed et al 2009;Yuan et al 2009). The EBG have been separated by such behavior from LBG in species such as grape, wheat and gentian (Boss et al 1996;Kobayashi et al 2002;Nakatsuka et al 2008;Ahmed et al 2009).…”

“…The regulation of color development is of particular interest in fruit. MYB TFs that control anthocyanin biosynthesis have been characterized from apple, grape, mangosteen, strawberry, and cabbage (Aharoni et al 2001;Kobayashi et al 2002Kobayashi et al , 2004Takos et al 2006;Ban et al 2007;Espley et al 2007;Walker et al 2007;Palapol et al 2009;Yuan et al 2009). Some varietal differences in plant color have been attributed to mutations in the anthocyanin pathway (Kim et al 2004;Galego and Almeida 2007;Streisfeld and Rausher 2009).…”

The Purple Cauliflower Arises from Activation of a MYB Transcription Factor

“…1, A-D, F, and G), including young seedlings, very young leaves, and very young flower buds and siliques, as well as the endosperm of seeds, a tissue that is rarely reported to accumulate pigments in anthocyanin-accumulating mutants, e.g. in red cabbage (Brassica oleracea var capitata; Yuan et al, 2009). The purple color was not observed in older leaves, stems, flower petals, and older siliques (Fig.…”

Proline partially overcomes excess molybdenum toxicity in cabbage seedlings grown in vitro

“…Total RNA (5 µg) was treated with DNase I and used for first-strand cDNA synthesis by priming with oligo-d(T) 15 and catalyzed with Superscript II Reverse Transcriptase (Invitrogen) at 42°C for 1.5 h. Real-time PCR and data analysis were performed in the Applied Biosystems 7300 Real-Time PCR System with SYBR Green PCR Master Mix (Applied Biosystems) and the endogenous control for quantification was the Actin gene. The primers used were according to Yuan et al (2009). Before running the real-time PCR, the primer efficiency of the target genes and housekeeping genes was evaluated by testing at 100, 200, and 300 nM.…”