Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Jan;134(1):159-169.
doi: 10.1007/s00122-020-03688-9. Epub 2020 Oct 4.

The dihydroflavonol 4-reductase BoDFR1 drives anthocyanin accumulation in pink-leaved ornamental kale

Xin Feng  1   2 , Yuting Zhang  1   2 , Huan Wang  1 , Zhendong Tian  1 , Siyao Xin  1 , Pengfang Zhu  3   4
Affiliations

The dihydroflavonol 4-reductase BoDFR1 drives anthocyanin accumulation in pink-leaved ornamental kale

Xin Feng et al. Theor Appl Genet. 2021 Jan.

Abstract

Overexpression and virus-induced gene silencing verified BoDFR1 conferred the anthocyanin accumulation in pink-leaved ornamental kale. Leaf color is an essential trait in the important horticultural biennial plant ornamental kale (Brassica oleracea var. acephala). The identity of the gene conferring this striking trait and its mode of inheritance are topics of debate. Based on an analysis of F1, F2, BC1P1, and BC1P2 ornamental kale populations derived from a cross between a pink-leaved P28 and white-leaved D10 line, we determined that the pink leaf trait is controlled by a semi-dominant gene. We cloned two genes potentially involved in anthocyanin biosynthesis in ornamental kale: Bo9g058630 and Bo6g100940. Based on their variation in sequence, we speculated that Bo9g058630, encoding the kale dihydroflavonol-4 reductase (BoDFR1) enzyme, plays a critical role in the development of the pink leaf trait. Indeed, an InDel marker specific for BoDFR1 completely co-segregated with the pink leaf trait in our F2 population. We then generated the 35Spro: DFR-GUS overexpression vector, which we transformed into D10. Overexpression of BoDFR1 indeed restored some anthocyanin accumulation in this white-leaved parental line. In addition, we targeted BoDFR1 in P28 using virus-induced gene silencing. Again, silencing of BoDFR1 resulted in a substantial decrease in anthocyanin accumulation. This work lays the foundation for further exploration of the mechanism underlying anthocyanin accumulation in pink-leaved ornamental kale.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Abe H, Urao T, Ito T, Seki M, Shinozaki K, Yamaguchi-Shinozaki K (2003) Arabidopsis AtMYC2 (bHLH) and AtMYB2 (MYB) function as transcriptional activators in abscisic acid signaling. Plant Cell 15:63–78 - DOI
    1. Ahmed NU, Park JI, Jung HJ, Yang TJ, Hur Y, Nou IS (2014) Characterization of dihydroflavonol 4-reductase (DFR) genes and their association with cold and freezing stress in Brassica rapa. Gene 550:46–55 - DOI
    1. Chiu L, Zhou X, Burke S, Wu X, Prior RL, Li L (2010) The purple cauliflower arises from activation of a MYB transcription factor. Plant Physiol 154:1470–1480 - DOI
    1. Gould KS (2004) Nature's Swiss army knife: the diverse protective roles of anthocyanins in leaves. BioMed Res Int 5:314–320
    1. Guo N, Han S, Zong M, Wang G, Zheng S, Liu F (2019) Identification and differential expression analysis of anthocyanin biosynthetic genes in leaf color variants of ornamental kale. BMC Genomics 20:564 - DOI

LinkOut - more resources