%0 Journal Article
%T A Genomic Approach to Study Anthocyanin Synthesis and Flower Pigmentation in Passionflowers
%A Lilian Cristina Baldon Aizza
%A Marcelo Carnier Dornelas
%J Journal of Nucleic Acids
%D 2011
%I Hindawi Publishing Corporation
%R 10.4061/2011/371517
%X Most of the plant pigments ranging from red to purple colors belong to the anthocyanin group of flavonoids. The flowers of plants belonging to the genus Passiflora (passionflowers) show a wide range of floral adaptations to diverse pollinating agents, including variation in the pigmentation of floral parts ranging from white to red and purple colors. Exploring a database of expressed sequence tags obtained from flower buds of two divergent Passiflora species, we obtained assembled sequences potentially corresponding to 15 different genes of the anthocyanin biosynthesis pathway in these species. The obtained sequences code for putative enzymes are involved in the production of flavonoid precursors, as well as those involved in the formation of particular (ˇ°decoratedˇ±) anthocyanin molecules. We also obtained sequences encoding regulatory factors that control the expression of structural genes and regulate the spatial and temporal accumulation of pigments. The identification of some of the putative Passiflora anthocyanin biosynthesis pathway genes provides novel resources for research on secondary metabolism in passionflowers, especially on the elucidation of the processes involved in floral pigmentation, which will allow future studies on the role of pigmentation in pollinator preferences in a molecular level. 1. Introduction Anthocyanins belong to a diverse group of secondary metabolites of the phenylpropanoid class, the flavonoids, which are found in different plant species. They represent some of the most important natural pigments, which are responsible for the wide range of red to purple colors present in many flowers, fruits, seeds, leaves, and stems. Besides having great economical relevance, flower and fruit pigments play an important ecological role in the animal attraction for pollination and seed dispersal, wich is a spectacular example of coevolution between plants and animals [1¨C3]. The biosynthetic pathway of anthocyanins has been well characterized biochemically and genetically in species with different floral morphology, pigmentation pattern, and pollination syndromes such as Petunia hybrida [4, 5], Matthiola [6], Dianthus [7], Eustoma [8], Gerbera [9], Zea mays [10, 11], Antirrhinum majus [12], and Ipomoea [13, 14]. A representation of a general anthocyanin biosynthetic pathway is shown in Figure 1. Figure 1: Schematic representation of the anthocyanin biosynthetic pathway (adapted from [ 16]). Enzymes are indicated in red, and classes of compounds are in green. Anthocyanidin is further modified with glycosyl, acyl, or methyl groups,
%U http://www.hindawi.com/journals/jna/2011/371517/