Fruits of kiwifruit cultivars (Actinidia chinensis and A. deliciosa) generally have green or yellow flesh when ripe. A small number of genotypes have red flesh but this coloration is usually restricted to the inner pericarp. Three kiwifruit cultivars having red ('Hongyang'), or yellow ('Jinnong-2'), or green ('Hayward') flesh were investigated for their color characteristics and pigment content...

Recent studies of anthocyanin formation have involved the use of a varied assortment of plant systems: seedlings, leaves, fruits, petals, callus cultures, and Lemnaceous flowering plants (2,9). Each of these kinds of material possesses certain advantages and certain disadvantages. In the dark-grown buckwheat seedling anthocyanin synthesis can be induced in the hypocotyl by exposure of that orga...

Sugars act as signaling molecules, whose signal transduction pathways may lead to the activation or inactivation of gene expression. Whole-genome transcript profiling reveals that the flavonoid and anthocyanin biosynthetic pathways are strongly up-regulated following sucrose (Suc) treatment. Besides mRNA accumulation, Suc affects both flavonoid and anthocyanin contents. We investigated the effe...

The Rosea1, Rosea2, and Venosa genes encode MYB-related transcription factors active in the flowers of Antirrhinum majus. Analysis of mutant phenotypes shows that these genes control the intensity and pattern of magenta anthocyanin pigmentation in flowers. Despite the structural similarity of these regulatory proteins, they influence the expression of target genes encoding the enzymes of anthoc...

SCOPE Numerous studies feeding anthocyanin-rich foods report limited bioavailability of the parent anthocyanins. The present study explores the identity and concentration of the phenolic metabolites of anthocyanins in humans. METHODS AND RESULTS Anthocyanin metabolites were quantified in samples collected from a previously conducted 12-wk elderberry intervention study in healthy post-menopaus...

The purple leaf pigmentation mainly associated with anthocyanins accumulation is common in Brassica but the mechanisms of its production and its potential physiological functions are poorly understood. Here, we performed the phenotypic, cytological, physiological, and comparative leaves transcriptome analyses of 11 different varieties belonging to five Brassica species with purple or green leav...

To identify candidate genes involved in Arabidopsis flavonoid biosynthesis, we applied transcriptome coexpression analysis and independent component analyses with 1388 microarray data from publicly available databases. Two glycosyltransferases, UGT79B1 and UGT84A2 were found to cluster with anthocyanin biosynthetic genes. Anthocyanin was drastically reduced in ugt79b1 knockout mutants. Recombin...

Anthocyanins are secondary metabolites that contribute to colors of flowers, fruits and leaves. Asiatic hybrid lily (Lilium spp.) accumulates cyanidin anthocyanins in flower tepals, tepal spots and leaves of juvenile shoots. To clarify their mechanisms of regulation of anthocyanin pigmentation, two full-length cDNAs of R2R3-MYB (LhMYB6 and LhMYB12) were isolated from the anthocyanin-accumulatin...

Anthocyanins are a group of polyphenolic pigments that are ubiquitously found in the plant kingdom. In plants, anthocyanins play a role not only in reproduction, by attracting pollinators and seed dispersers, but also in protection against various abiotic and biotic stresses. There is accumulating evidence that anthocyanins have health-promoting properties, which makes anthocyanin metabolism an...

Autumnal leaf anthocyanin expression is enhanced following exposure to a variety of environmental stresses and may represent an adaptive benefit of protecting leaves from those stresses, thereby allowing for prolonged sugar and nutrient resorption. Past work has shown that experimentally induced sugar accumulations following branch girdling triggers anthocyanin biosynthesis. We hypothesized tha...