Abstract
Horticultural crops of the Ribes genus are valued for their anthocyanin-rich fruits, but until now, there were no data about the genes and regulation of their flavonoid pathway. In this study, the coding sequences of flavonoid pathway enzymes and their putative regulators MYB10, bHLH3 and WD40 were isolated, and their expression analyzed in fruits with varying anthocyanin levels from different cultivars of four species belonging to the Ribes genus. Transcription levels of anthocyanin synthesis enzymes and the regulatory gene RrMYB10 correlated with fruit coloration and anthocyanin quantities of different Ribes cultivars. Regulatory genes were tested for the ability to modulate anthocyanin biosynthesis during transient expression in the leaves of two Nicotiana species and to activate Prunus avium promoters of late anthocyanin biosynthesis genes in N. tabacum. Functional tests showed a strong capability of RrMyb10 to induce anthocyanin synthesis in a heterologous system, even without the concurrent expression of any heterologous bHLH, whereas RrbHLH3 enhanced MYB-induced anthocyanin synthesis. Data obtained in this work facilitate further analysis of the anthocyanin synthesis pathway in key Ribes species, and potent anthocyanin inducer RrMyb10 can be used to manipulate anthocyanin expression in heterologous systems.
Highlights
Ribes, the only genus of the Grossulariceae family, contains woody perennial plants native throughout temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere
Our aim was to isolate anthocyanin pathway genes and their regulators, to analyze their expression in fruits of different Ribes species and their cultivars to identify ones associated with anthocyanin levels and to test the anthocyanin-inducing capabilities of isolated transcription factors in a heterologous expression system
The sequences were cloned from mature fruits of cultivars with the highest fruit anthocyanin content: R. nigrum “Ben Tirran”, R. uva-crispa “Chorny negus”, R. rubrum
Summary
The only genus of the Grossulariceae family, contains woody perennial plants native throughout temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. The first members of the genus were domesticated 400–500 years ago, and today descendants of at least eighteen species are widely cultivated in Europe and, to a smaller degree, in China, New Zealand and North and South America [1]. The most commercially important species are blackcurrant (Ribes nigrum L.) and redcurrant (Ribes rubrum L.). Other domesticated currants and gooseberries are commonly cultivated in home gardens, and have some commercial value. Nations (http://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#data/QC), the annual worldwide production of currants in 2018 was about 660,000 tons (almost all in Europe, nearly 90% in Eastern Europe), and the production of gooseberries surpassed 170,000 tons (almost all in Europe). Small fleshy fruits produced by Plants 2020, 9, 1078; doi:10.3390/plants9091078 www.mdpi.com/journal/plants
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