Spatiotemporal Modulation of Flavonoid Metabolism in Blueberries
Blueberries are distinguished by their purple-blue fruit color, which develops during ripening and is derived from a characteristic composition of flavonoid-derived anthocyanin pigments. The production of anthocyanins is confined to fruit skin, leaving the colorless fruit flesh devoid of these compo...
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Published in | Frontiers in plant science Vol. 11; p. 545 |
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Main Authors | , , , , , , , , , , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
Switzerland
Frontiers Media
13.05.2020
Frontiers Media S.A |
Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
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Summary: | Blueberries are distinguished by their purple-blue fruit color, which develops during ripening and is derived from a characteristic composition of flavonoid-derived anthocyanin pigments. The production of anthocyanins is confined to fruit skin, leaving the colorless fruit flesh devoid of these compounds. By linking accumulation patterns of phenolic metabolites with gene transcription in Northern Highbush (
) and Rabbiteye (
blueberry, we investigated factors limiting anthocyanin production in berry flesh. We find that flavonoid production was generally lower in fruit flesh compared with skin and concentrations further declined during maturation. A common set of structural genes was identified across both species, indicating that tissue-specific flavonoid biosynthesis was dependent on co-expression of multiple pathway genes and limited by the phenylpropanoid pathway in combination with
,
, and
as potential pathway bottlenecks. While metabolite concentrations were comparable between the blueberry genotypes when fully ripe, the anthocyanin composition was distinct and depended on the degree of hydroxylation/methoxylation of the anthocyanidin moiety in combination with genotype-specific glycosylation patterns. Co-correlation analysis of phenolic metabolites with pathway structural genes revealed characteristic isoforms of
-methyltransferases and UDP-glucose:flavonoid-3-
-glycosyltransferase that were likely to modulate anthocyanin composition. Finally, we identified candidate transcriptional regulators that were co-expressed with structural genes, including the activators
,
, and
together with the repressor
, which suggested an interdependent role in anthocyanin regulation. |
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Bibliography: | ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 Frontiers in Plant Science This article was submitted to Crop and Product Physiology, a section of the journal Frontiers in Plant Science Edited by: Brian Farneti, Fondazione Edmund Mach, Italy Reviewed by: Lingli Li, Northwest A&F University, China; Mary Ann Lila, North Carolina State University, United States; David Rudell, Agricultural Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture, United States |
ISSN: | 1664-462X 1664-462X |
DOI: | 10.3389/fpls.2020.00545 |