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Biochemical and genetic evidences of anthocyanin biosynthesis and accumulation in a selected tomato mutant

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Abstract

Anthocyanins add significant nutritional value to the plant-derived foods that contain them because of their health-promoting effects. In tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.), anthocyanins are normally synthesized only in vegetative tissues. Atroviolacium (atv) is a mutant characterized by intense anthocyanin pigmentation in the vegetative tissues. In this study, we investigated the anthocyanin biosynthetic pathway in this mutant and in its genetic background (Ailsa Craig, AC) in order to reveal the molecular regulation of anthocyanin biosynthesis in this line, and to find out where the anthocyanin biosynthesis is intensified. To our knowledge, this is the first report showing the sucrose-induced accumulation of anthocyanins in vegetative tissues of tomato, and demonstrating the molecular regulation of anthocyanin biosynthesis in atv mutant.

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Abbreviations

F3′H:

Flavonoid 3′-hydroxylase

F3′5′H:

Flavonoid 3′5′-hydroxylase

DFR:

Dihydroflavonol 4-reductase

FLS:

Flavonols synthase

ANS:

Anthocyanidin synthase

3-GT:

Flavonoid 3-O-glucosyltransferase

5-GT:

Flavonoid 5-O-glucosyltransferase

RT:

Flavonoid 3-O-glucoside-rhamnosyltransferase

AAC:

Anthocyanin acyltransferase

GST:

Glutathione S-transferase

PAT:

Putative anthocyanin transporter

NAR:

Naringenin

DHK:

Dihydrokaempferol

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Acknowledgments

Authors would like to thank Prof. Pierdomenico Perata and Giovanni povero (Scuola Superiore Sant’ Anna, Italy) for their valuable assistance, support and guidance throughout this research work. Thanks, also, to Prof. Gian Piero Soressi (Department of Agrobiology and Agrochemistry, University of Tuscia, Viterbo, Italy) for providing us with the seeds of atroviolacium (atv) and its genetic background (Ailsa Craig). This research was supported by the Italian Ministry of University and Research (MiUR), PRIN2006, TomANTHO Project.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, College of Science, King Khalid University, Abha, Saudi Arabia

    Khaldoun O. Al Sane & Abd El-Latif Hesham

  2. Department of Genetics, Faculty of Agriculture, Assiut University, Assiut, Egypt

    Abd El-Latif Hesham

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  1. Khaldoun O. Al Sane
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  2. Abd El-Latif Hesham
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Correspondence to Khaldoun O. Al Sane.

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Al Sane, K.O., Hesham, A.EL. Biochemical and genetic evidences of anthocyanin biosynthesis and accumulation in a selected tomato mutant. Rend. Fis. Acc. Lincei 26, 293–306 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12210-015-0446-x

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