Abstract
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.
Highlights
Published: 17 September 2021Flower color is a vital characteristic for determining the commercial value of ornamental plants sold as cut flowers and potted plants or used in landscaping and gardening.Flower colors that are not intrinsic for a particular species are especially valued and have been a focus of human efforts for centuries
The obtained regenerated shoots from untransformed callus tissue and proven GUS positive transformed callus tissue-derived after transformation with empty vector (Llccs− ) and with vector carrying Llccs gene (Llccs+ ) were further grown on 12 MS medium supplemented with 0.5 mg/L α-naphthylacetic acid (NAA) and
When hypocotyl explants of V. cornuta were inoculated with A. tumefaciens strains immediately after isolation, most of them were necrotized after cultivation on a selective medium
Summary
Flower color is a vital characteristic for determining the commercial value of ornamental plants sold as cut flowers and potted plants or used in landscaping and gardening. Genetic modification of tobacco plants expressing different combinations of betalain pathway genes with altered flower color from naturally pale-violet to red-violet, yellow and orange-pink due to accumulation of betalains in different betacyanin/betaxanthin ratios was recently reported [9]. Genetic transformation of tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) with Llccs under the control of a chimeric promoter consisting of CaMV 35S enhancer (domain B1 −750 to −90) fused to a −220 bp promoter fragment of a chalcone synthase gene (Chs A) from Petunia hybrida [53] led to flower color change from wild-type yellow to different shades of orange [54]. We demonstrate that the ectopic expression of Llccs gene under the control of CaMV 35S promoter 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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