Browsing by Author "Vainio, Jere"

Anthocyanins are pigment molecules responsible for the majority of flower colors existing in nature. Emerging from the flavonoid biosynthetic pathway, anthocyanin biosynthetic pathway branches into orange pelargonidin derivates, red cyanidin derivates and blue delphinidin derivates. Dihydroflavonol 4-reductase (DFR), a NADPH-dependent oxidoreductase, catalyzes the first anthocyanin specific step after the branching point for all three branches. In some cases, DFR exhibits substrate specificity leading to some flowering plant species’ inability to produce certain colors; like petunias lacking orange colors. Ornamental plant industry thrives on breeding of novel colors and color patterns, and thus understanding of the capabilities of anthocyanin biosynthesis is of key importance. The aim of this study is to gain insight into the amino acid residues causing substrate specificities in Petunia hybrida. The study focused on an amino acid region that has been previously identified as affecting substrate specificities in Gerbera hybrida. To examine the effects of three different mutations in this region, enzyme activity was examined both in vitro and in vivo. Experiments consisted of kinetic assays with protein extracts from infiltrated Nicotiana benthamiana and determination of anthocyanin content from stable transformations of Petunia hybrida. Anthocyanin content was determined from transformed petunia flowers with high performance liquid chromatography. Kinetic assays show distinct substrate specificity profiles for all three mutations, indicating a correlation between the studied residues and substrate specificity. The transformed petunias also exhibited altered anthocyanin content, with two of the three mutant transformants exhibiting increased pelargonidin production. The observed effects of these mutations support the previous results indicating that this region has a role in determining substrate specificities of DFR enzymes.