Molecular genetic mechanisms of the development of fruit and seed coloration in plants

Abstract

The diverse coloration of plant fruits and seeds is determined by the presence of two important types of pigments, carotenoids (red, orange, yellow) and anthocyanins (purple, blue, red). They belong to two groups of secondary metabolites (isoprenoids and flavonoids). Recently, increased interest in the study of genetic mechanisms controlling coloration traits in plants is observed due to the antioxidant and antimicrobial properties of certain pigments and their colorless precursors consumed with plant food. The genes encoding enzymes required for successive transformations of the initial organic molecules in the final pigment compounds are referred to as the group of structural genes. The factors activating the expression of the structural genes and controlling the synthesis of certain pigments at a particular time in certain part of the plant are referred to as regulatory biosynthesis genes. The data accumulated in the field of plant genetics indicate that the interspecific and intraspecific diversity by the coloration traits (observed at the phenotypical level) is associated with regulatory genes. The creation of rich collections and accurate genetic models by the coloration traits in dicotyledonous and monocotyledonous plants in previous years, as well as the development of molecular genetic methods of plant research, allowed to study in detail the mechanisms of the genetic regulation of the synthesis of pigment compounds at the molecular level. In this article, the peculiarities of regulating carotenoid biosynthesis are illustrated on the example of their production in fruits of the Solanaceae family. Genetic regulation of the synthesis of different flavonoid pigments is demonstrated on the example of the study of the seed coloration in the Poaceae family plants. The prospects of the practical use of regulatory genes controlling the fruit and seed coloration are discussed in the final part of the work; specific examples of their use in breeding of vegetable and cereal crops are given.