Abstract
Anthocyanin-rich barley can have great potential in promoting human health and in developing nutraceuticals and functional foods. As different anthocyanin compounds have different antioxidant activities, breeding cultivars with pre-designed anthocyanin compositions could be highly desirable. Working toward this possibility, we assessed and reported for the first time the genetic control of individual anthocyanin compounds in barley. Of the ten anthocyanins assessed, two, peonidin-3-glucoside (P3G) and cyanidin-3-glucoside (C3G), were major components in the purple pericarp barley genotype RUSSIA68. Quantitative trait locus (QTL) mapping showed that both anthocyanin compounds were the interactive products of two loci, one located on chromosome arm 2HL and the other on 7HS. However, the two different anthocyanin components seem to be controlled by different interactions between the two loci. The effects of the 7HS locus on P3G and C3G were difficult to detect without removing the effect of the 2HL locus. At least one copy of the 2HL alleles from the purple pericarp parent was required for the synthesis of P3G. This does not seem to be the case for the production of C3G which was produced in each of all the different allele combinations between the two loci. Typical maternal effect was also observed in the inheritance of purple pericarp grains in barley. The varied values of different compounds, coupled with their different genetic controls, highlight the need for targeting individual anthocyanins in crop breeding and food processing.
Highlights
Anthocyanins are a group of water-soluble flavonoids responsible for the attractive colours of most fruits, vegetables and cereal grains [1]
Considering that different anthocyanin compounds may have different values [24, 33, 34] and that grains with similar colour can have highly different anthocyanin compositions [26], we investigated the genetics of individual anthocyanin compounds in barley and the results were presented in this publication
Inheritance of purple pericarp barley grains. It was noticed during the generation of both the mapping (POP1) and the validation (POP2) populations that the pericarp colour of F1 seeds was the same as the female parents and that the pericarp colour of F2 seeds was determined by the genotypes of F1 plants (Fig 1)
Summary
Anthocyanins are a group of water-soluble flavonoids responsible for the attractive colours of most fruits, vegetables and cereal grains [1] They have been recognised as having the ability to scavenge free radicals, which cause oxidative stress in human cells [2, 3], and can potentially offer various health benefits and play important roles in protection against oxidative damage and detoxification, as well as in processes related to the immune system. Pigmented grains rich in anthocyanins have been identified as promising ingredients for the development of cereal-based functional foods as they are a source of natural antioxidants [15,16,17,18]. Previous studies have shown that pigmented barley can have great potential in promoting human health and in the development of nutraceuticals and functional foods [22]. Considering that different anthocyanin compounds may have different values [24, 33, 34] and that grains with similar colour can have highly different anthocyanin compositions [26], we investigated the genetics of individual anthocyanin compounds in barley and the results were presented in this publication
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