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Cymbidium hybrida dihydroflavonol 4‐reductase does not efficiently reduce dihydrokaempferol to produce orange pelargonidin‐type anthocyanins
Author(s) -
Johnson Eric T.,
Yi Hankuil,
Shin Byongchul,
Oh BoungJun,
Cheong Hyeonsook,
Choi Giltsu
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
the plant journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.058
H-Index - 269
eISSN - 1365-313X
pISSN - 0960-7412
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-313x.1999.00502.x
Subject(s) - pelargonidin , cymbidium , anthocyanin , orange (colour) , biology , botany , pigment , cyanidin , horticulture , chemistry , organic chemistry
Summary Some angiosperms are limited to a range of possible flower colors. This limitation can be due to the lack of an anthocyanin biosynthetic gene or to the substrate specificity of a key anthocyanin biosynthetic enzyme, dihydroflavonol 4‐reductase (DFR). Cymbidium hybrida orchid flowers primarily produce cyanidin‐type (pink to red) anthocyanins and lack the pelargonidin‐type (orange to brick‐red) anthocyanins. To investigate the underlying molecular mechanism of this flower color range, we cloned a Cymbidium DFR gene and transformed it into a DFR – petunia line. We found that the Cymbidium DFR did not efficiently reduce dihydrokaempferol (DHK), which is an essential step for pelargonidin production. Phylogenetic analysis of a number of DFR sequences indicate that the inability to catalyze DHK reduction has occurred at least twice during angiosperm evolution. Our results indicate that developing a pelargonidin‐type orange flower color in Cymbidium may require the transformation of a DFR gene that can efficiently catalyze DHK reduction.