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Abstract
Eggplant berries are rich in anthocyanins like delphinidin-3-rutinoside (D3R) and nasunin (NAS), which are accumulated at high amounts in the peel. NAS is derived by D3R through acylation and glycosylation steps. The presence of D3R or NAS is usually associated with black-purple or lilac fruit coloration of the most cultivated varieties, respectively. Building on QTL mapping position, a candidate gene approach was used to investigate the involvement of a BAHD anthocyanin acyltransferase (SmelAAT) in determining anthocyanin type. The cDNA sequence comparison revealed the presence of a single-base deletion in D3R-type line ‘305E40’ (305E40_aat) with respect to the NAS-type reference line ‘67/3’. This is predicted to cause a frame shift mutation, leading to a loss of SmelAAT function and, thus, D3R retention. RT-qPCR analyses confirmed SmelAAT and 305E40_aat expression during berry maturation. In D3R-type lines, ‘305E40’ and ‘DR2’, overexpressing the functional SmelAAT allele from ‘67/3’, the transcript levels of the transgene correlated with the accumulation of NAS in fruit peel. Furthermore, it was also found a higher expression of the transcript for glucosyltransferase Smel5GT1, putatively involved with SmelAAT in the last steps of anthocyanin decoration. Finally, an indel marker matching with anthocyanin type in the ‘305E40’ × ’67/3’ segregating population was developed and validated in a wide number of accessions, proving its usefulness for breeding purposes.
Highlights
Anthocyanins are a class of flavonoids playing important roles in promoting plant pollination and seed dispersal and protecting against biotic and abiotic stress [1]
Among gene models annotated within the QTL confidence interval mapped on chromosome E05, SMEL_005g236240, encoding a putative Acetyl-CoA-benzylalcohol acetyltransferase (SmelAAT), was a prime candidate for anthocyanin tonality and NAS/D3R
A subtree comprising the 32 most distantly related sequences to SmelAAT was compressed for clarity
Summary
Anthocyanins are a class of flavonoids playing important roles in promoting plant pollination and seed dispersal and protecting against biotic and abiotic stress [1]. They are responsible for the blue, purple, and red coloration of many plant tissues. Anthocyanins are synthetized in plants through a branching of the phenylpropanoid pathway, which uses phenylalanine as precursor; this network is highly conserved among species and one of the most studied in eudicots [6,7]. In the first part of the pathway, through the action of the EBGs, the metabolic precursors phenylalanine and p-coumaroyl-CoA are processed to produce naringenin [9]. Naringenin is converted to dihydrokaempferol, a dihydroflavonol, the last compounds synthesized through the action of the EBGs [10]
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