Abstract

BackgroundMustard (Brassica juncea) is an important economic vegetable, and some cultivars have purple leaves and accumulate more anthocyanins than the green. The genetic and evolution of purple trait in mustard has not been well studied.ResultIn this study, free-hand sections and metabolomics showed that the purple leaves of mustard accumulated more anthocyanins than green ones. The gene controlling purple leaves in mustard, Mustard Purple Leaves (MPL), was genetically mapped and a MYB113-like homolog was identified as the candidate gene. We identified three alleles of the MYB113-like gene, BjMYB113a from a purple cultivar, BjMYB113b and BjMYB113c from green cultivars. A total of 45 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and 8 InDels were found between the promoter sequences of the purple allele BjMYB113a and the green allele BjMYB113b. On the other hand, the only sequence variation between the purple allele BjMYB113a and the green allele BjMYB113c is an insertion of 1,033-bp fragment in the 3’region of BjMYB113c. Transgenic assay and promoter activity studies showed that the polymorphism in the promoter region was responsible for the up-regulation of the purple allele BjMYB113a and high accumulation of anthocyanin in the purple cultivar. The up-regulation of BjMYB113a increased the expression of genes in the anthocyanin biosynthesis pathway including BjCHS, BjF3H, BjF3’H, BjDFR, BjANS and BjUGFT, and consequently led to high accumulation of anthocyanin. However, the up-regulation of BjMYB113 was compromised by the insertion of 1,033-bp in 3’region of the allele BjMYB113c.ConclusionsOur results contribute to a better understanding of the genetics and evolution of the BjMYB113 gene controlling purple leaves and provide useful information for further breeding programs of mustard.

Highlights

  • Mustard (Brassica juncea) is an important economic vegetable, and some cultivars have purple leaves and accumulate more anthocyanins than the green

  • Our results contribute to a better understanding of the genetics and evolution of the BjMYB113 gene controlling purple leaves and provide useful information for further breeding programs of mustard

  • MYB plays a central role in color variation in plant species In this study, we showed that the BjMYB113 gene was responsible for the color variation in mustard, and point mutations and small Insertions and Deletions (InDels) in the promoter region accounted for its activation and accumulation of the anthocyanins

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Summary

Introduction

Mustard (Brassica juncea) is an important economic vegetable, and some cultivars have purple leaves and accumulate more anthocyanins than the green. Mustard (Brassica juncea, 2n = 36, AABB) is an important economic vegetable in the world [1, 2] This cultivated species contains several different varieties, which exhibit extreme morphologic polymorphisms, with leaves, stems, roots, or seeds as harvest organs. Anthocyanins are a large group of water-soluble natural pigments and widely distribute in higher plants. They are largely responsible for the red, purple, and blue colors in flowers, fruits, leaves, seeds and other plant organs [4, 5]. Anthocyanins can protect plants from UV damage, and they have strong capacity to scavenge reactive oxygen species

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