Red colouration in apple fruit is due to the activity of the MYB transcription factor, MdMYB10

By R. Espley, R. Hellens, J. Putterill, D. Stevenson, Sumathi Kutty-Amma, A. Allan. The Plant Journal, 2007

1,197 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Anthocyanin concentration is an important determinant of the colour of many fruits. In apple (Malus × domestica), centuries of breeding have produced numerous varieties in which levels of anthocyanin pigment vary widely and change in response to environmental and developmental stimuli. The apple fruit cortex is usually colourless, although germplasm does exist where the cortex is highly pigmented due to the accumulation of either anthocyanins or carotenoids. From studies in a diverse array of plant species, it is apparent that anthocyanin biosynthesis is controlled at the level of transcription. Here we report the transcript levels of the anthocyanin biosynthetic genes in a red-fleshed apple compared with a white-fleshed cultivar. We also describe an apple MYB transcription factor, MdMYB10, that is similar in sequence to known anthocyanin regulators in other species. We further show that this transcription factor can induce anthocyanin accumulation in both heterologous and homologous systems, generating pigmented patches in transient assays in tobacco leaves and highly pigmented apple plants following stable transformation with constitutively expressed MdMYB10. Efficient induction of anthocyanin biosynthesis in transient assays by MdMYB10 was dependent on the co-expression of two distinct bHLH proteins from apple, MdbHLH3 and MdbHLH33. The strong correlation between the expression of MdMYB10 and apple anthocyanin levels during fruit development suggests that this transcription factor is responsible for controlling anthocyanin biosynthesis in apple fruit; in the red-fleshed cultivar and in the skin of other varieties, there is an induction of MdMYB10 expression concurrent with colour formation during development. Characterization of MdMYB10 has implications for the development of new varieties through classical breeding or a biotechnological approach.

Subfields: Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, Plant Science

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/fa9566264f41fdba9621a211e5cc92ca05811f50

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Citations in the corpus

Recent advances on the regulation of anthocyanin synthesis in reproductive organs. (2011, background): “The MYB genes, MdMYB1 and MdMYBA, in apple are responsible for anthocyanin synthesis in red-skin apple cultivars [71,72] whereas MdMYB10 controls red pigmentation in both skin and flesh of apple fruit and in foliage [73].”
Flavonoids as Important Molecules of Plant Interactions with the Environment (2014, background): “In many plant species, MYB proteins were reported to be capable of regulating the biosynthesis of flavonoids and to be induced by stress, exemplified by Arabidopsis MYB75 (PAP1), AtMYB90 (PAP2) MYB12 and MYBL2 [120,126,127], petunia AN2 and PH4 [128,129], grape MYBA1 and MYBA2 [130–133], sweet potat”
Biosynthesis and Regulation of Phenylpropanoids in Plants (2017, background): “…that interacts with MdMYB10 to regulate anthocyanin biosynthesis in apple are additional targets of a MdTAS4-derived ta-siRNA, MdTAS4-siR81(¡), suggesting the divergence of tasiRNA-involved regulation of anthocyanin biosynthesis in different plant species (Espley et al., 2007; Xia et al., 2012).”
QTL analysis of fruit quality traits in two peach intraspecific populations and importance of maturity date pleiotropic effect (2011, positive): “In red apple, a light-inducible MYB gene regulating anthocyanin biosynthesis has been indicated as a putative candidate gene involved in the skin color determination (Takos et al. 2006; Espley et al. 2007; Ban et al. 2007).”
MYB Transcription Factors as Regulators of Phenylpropanoid Metabolism in Plants. (2015, background): “…(Takos et al., 2006; Ban et al., 2007; 24 Vimolmangkang et al., 2013), MdMYB10 regulates the synthesis of anthocyanins in 25 the peel, flesh and foliage (Espley et al., 2007) and MdMYB110a mediates red 26 coloration of the fruit cortex in the later phase of fruit maturity (Chagne et al., 2013).”
QTL analysis and candidate gene mapping for skin and flesh color in sweet cherry fruit (Prunus avium L.) (2010, positive): “), it was demonstrated that a R2R3 MYB transcription factor MdMYB10 controls red fruit flesh and foliage (Espley et al. 2007; Chagné et al. 2007), while a second gene or allele, MYBA/MYB1, controls red skin color (Takos et al.”
Recent advances in the transcriptional regulation of the flavonoid biosynthetic pathway. (2011, background): “In apple as well, MdMYB10 does not seem to regulate MdbHLH3 and MdbHLH33 expression (Espley et al. , 2007).”
An R2R3 MYB transcription factor associated with regulation of the anthocyanin biosynthetic pathway in Rosaceae (2010, methodology): “In apple (Malus × domestica) MYB10 was isolated from red-fleshed apple ‘Red Field’ [24], and showed a strong correlation between the expression of MYB10 and apple anthocyanin levels during fruit development.”
Evolutionary and comparative analysis of MYB and bHLH plant transcription factors. (2011, background): “, 2007); MdbHLH3 (Espley et al., 2007); GtbHLH1 (Nakatsuka et al.”
The bHLH transcription factor MdbHLH3 promotes anthocyanin accumulation and fruit colouration in response to low temperature in apples. (2012, background): “The combination of MdbHLH3 with MdMYB10 (allelic to MdMYB1) confers visible anthocyanin phenotypes in tobacco leaves in transient co-expression experiments (Espley et al. 2007).”
Differential Gene Expression Analysis of Yunnan Red Pear, Pyrus Pyrifolia, During Fruit Skin Coloration (2011, background): “Plant anthocyanin MYB regulators such as MdMYB10/MYB1 (Espley et al. 2007), VvMYBA1 (Walker et al.”
Light-induced expression of basic helix-loop-helix genes involved in anthocyanin biosynthesis in flowers and leaves of Asiatic hybrid lily. (2009, background): “Three domains (boxes 11, 18 and 13) in the N-terminal region that are important for interaction with the R2R3-MYB protein (Heim et al., 2003; Espley et al., 2007) were present in both LhbHLH1 and LhbHLH2 (Fig.”