Isolation and Characterization of Enhancer of Flavonoid Production Genes from Floricultural Crops

摘要

Anthocyanins are major flavonoid pigments of seed plants, that are responsible for a wide range of flower colours. In contrast, aurones are minor flavonoid pigments that confer a bright yellow colour on flowers, such as snapdragon. Those pigment concentrations have a directly effect on flower colour intensity. It has recently been shown that a chalcone isomerase-nke protein, called enhancer of flavonoid production (EFP), has a role in the effective anthocyanin production and flower colour intensity.Although EFP genes are widely distributed in terrestrial plants, studies of these genes have been limited to only a few plants. Here we investigated the contribution of EFP gene to flower colouration of the popular floricultural crops: carnation, chrysanthemum and snapdragon. EFP genes were isolated from carnation and chrysanthemum and those mRNA expressions were abundantly detected in flower petals at the bud stage. In snapdragon, the mRNA expression could be detected not only in anthocyanin accumulating flowers but also in aurone accumulating yellow flowers. These results suggest that the EFP gene broadly contributes to flower colouration of floricultural crops by enhancing flavonoid pigment production.