Abstract
Coloration of plant organs is governed by a combination of MYB- and bHLH-type transcription factors (TFs) and WD repeats or WD40 proteins in a MYB-bHLH-WDR (MBW) ternary protein complex for anthocyanin synthesis. Here, the MYB-type gene Rosea1 (ROS1) and the bHLH-type gene Delila (DEL) from Antirrhinum majus were expressed separately or simultaneously in Arabidopsis and Brassica napus to determine the influence on anthocyanin biosynthesis in different plant species. Overexpression of ROS1 alone substantially improved anthocyanin production in the leaves and seeds in Arabidopsis and triggered the transcription of late biosynthetic genes, such as AtDFR and AtANS. However, overexpression of DEL alone in Arabidopsis failed to produce any anthocyanin in the whole plants. Interestingly, DEL and ROS1 co-expression strengthened the anthocyanins biosynthesis and modified petal color from white into purple in Arabidopsis. The anthocyanidin content was consistent with the organ coloration in Arabidopsis. The main anthocyanin compounds in transgenic ROS1 leaves were cyanidin 3,5-O-diglucoside (28.0 µg/g DW) and cyanidin 3-O-glucoside (17.5 µg/g DW). In flowers of DEL and ROS1 co-expressed transgenic Arabidopsis, the dominating anthocyanin compounds were delphinidin 3-O-glucoside (33.8 µg/g DW), cyanidin 3,5-O-diglucoside (20.1 µg/g DW), and cyanidin 3-O-glucoside (10.5 µg/g DW). However in B. napus, neither separate nor co-expression of DEL and ROS1 produced any organ coloration. Most of the early and the late biosynthetic genes had no significant induction in the transgenic B. napus.
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This work was supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Zhejiang Province (CN) (no. LY19C130005) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (no. 31571700).
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Wang, F., Zheng, T., Zhu, Y. et al. The ROSEA1 and DELILA Transcription Factors Modified Plant Organ Color in Arabidopsis but not in Brassica napus. Plant Mol Biol Rep 41, 185–193 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11105-022-01362-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11105-022-01362-6