Copigmentation gives bluer flowers on transgenic torenia plants with the antisense dihydroflavonol-4-reductase gene

Abstract

When anthocyanins in plants make complexes with copigments such as flavones or flavonols (copigmentation), the visible absorption maximum of the flowers is shifted so that it becomes longer: that is, the flowers look bluer. In an earlier study, our group reported the modification of flower color in torenia (Torenia fournieri Lind.) by re-introduction of the dihydroflavonol-4-reductase (DFR) gene or the chalcone synthase (CHS) gene. Our initial observation of torenia transformants was that plants with the antisense DFR gene produced bluer flowers than plants with the antisense CHS gene. In the present study we found that inactivation of the DFR gene by genetic transformation caused the accumulation of flavones - possible copigments - and that the resulting copigmentation likely to make the torenia flowers bluer. This method could be applied to other plant species to produce bluer flowers.