Search for Articles:
Title / Keyword
Author / Affiliation / Email
Journal
Article Type
 
 
Advanced Search
 
Section
Special Issue
Volume
Issue
Number
Page
 
2.4
3.1
Journals
Horticulturae
Special Issues
Genetic Modification of Flower and Fruit Color Variations in Horticultural...
share announcement

Genetic Modification of Flower and Fruit Color Variations in Horticultural Crops

A special issue of Horticulturae (ISSN 2311-7524). This special issue belongs to the section "Genetics, Genomics, Breeding, and Biotechnology (G2B2)".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 April 2023) | Viewed by 19046

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Silvia Gonzali

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
PlantLab, Institute of Life Sciences, Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, 56127 Pisa, Italy
Interests: plant physiology; regulation of anthocyanin production in crops; mechanisms of iodine accumulation in plants

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

In nature, flower and fruit colors play a pivotal role in the attraction of pollinators and seed dispersers. At the same time, they represent a key qualitative trait for many ornamental and horticultural crops. In recent years significant progress has been made in the production of novel flower and fruit colors by a combination of hybridization and mutation breeding, and through genetic engineering techniques. This was accelerated by increasing knowledge of the mechanisms that regulate the biosynthetic pathways of the secondary metabolites to which the most common pigments, such as flavonoids and carotenoids, belong. In ornamental plants, color has mainly an aesthetic value, while colored fruits are increasingly appreciated by consumers for the health beneficial effects of the phytochemicals they contain. In both cases, the novel color crop varieties have a large market share and, as a consequence, manipulating flower and fruit color is increasingly considered by researchers, breeders, and processors.

This Special Issue of Horticulturae will provide a current overview of the most significant researches carried out in the field of flower and fruit color modifications. You are warmly invited to submit your work to this issue that focuses on the following aspects: genetic regulation of flavonoid, carotenoid, and betalain production in horticultural species; cellular and genetic basis of structural color in flower and fruit tissues; breeding for improved or novel flower and fruit colors; genetic engineering of novel color traits in ornamental species; color as a qualitative/nutritional attribute of fruits; perspectives on new color modifications.

Dr. Silvia Gonzali
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Horticulturae is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2200 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • anthocyanin
  • carotenoid
  • biotechnology
  • color modification

Published Papers (4 papers)

Download All Papers
Order results
Result details
Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

Jump to: Review

18 pages, 2723 KiB  
Article
Pigment-Related Mutations Greatly Affect Berry Metabolome in San Marzano Tomatoes
by Gabriella Dono, José Luis Rambla, Sarah Frusciante, Eleonora Fabene, Aurelio Gómez-Cadenas, Antonio Granell, Gianfranco Diretto and Andrea Mazzucato
Horticulturae 2022, 8(2), 120; https://doi.org/10.3390/horticulturae8020120 - 28 Jan 2022
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2297
Abstract
The study describes the alterations in metabolomic profiles of four tomato fruit mutations introgressed into Solanum lycopersicum cv. San Marzano, a well-known Italian traditional variety. Three lines carrying variants affecting the content of all pigments, high pigment-1 (hp-1), hp-2, pigment [...] Read more.
The study describes the alterations in metabolomic profiles of four tomato fruit mutations introgressed into Solanum lycopersicum cv. San Marzano, a well-known Italian traditional variety. Three lines carrying variants affecting the content of all pigments, high pigment-1 (hp-1), hp-2, pigment diluter (pd), and a combination of Anthocyanin fruit and atroviolaceum (Aft_atv), were selected, and characterized. Biochemical analysis of 44 non-polar, 133 polar, and 65 volatile metabolites in ripe fruits revealed a wide range of differences between the variant lines and the recurrent parent San Marzano. Among non-polar compounds, many carotenoids, plastoquinones, and tocopherols increased in the fruit of high pigment lines, as well as in Aft_atv, whose β-carotene levels increased too. Interestingly, pd displayed enriched levels of xanthophylls (all-trans-neoxanthin and luteoxanthin) but, simultaneously, decreased levels of α-and β-/γ-tocopherols. Looking at the metabolites in the polar fraction, a significant decrease in sugar profile was observed in hp-1, pd, and Aft_atv. Conversely, many vitamins and organic acids increased in the hp-2 and Aft_atv lines, respectively. Overall, phenylpropanoids was the metabolic group with the highest extent of polar changes, with considerable increases of many compounds mainly in the case of Aft_atv, followed by the pd and hp-2 lines. Finally, several flavor-related compounds were found to be modified in all mutants, mostly due to increased levels in many benzenoid, lipid, and phenylalanine derivative volatiles, which are associated with sweeter taste and better aroma. Construction of metabolic maps, interaction networks, and correlation matrices gave an integrated representation of the large effect of single variants on the tomato fruit metabolome. In conclusion, the identified differences in the mutated lines might contribute to generating novel phenotypes in the traditional San Marzano type, with increased desirable nutraceutical and organoleptic properties. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Genetic Modification of Flower and Fruit Color Variations in Horticultural Crops)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

14 pages, 1310 KiB  
Article
Beyond Purple Tomatoes: Combined Strategies Targeting Anthocyanins to Generate Crimson, Magenta, and Indigo Fruit
by Eugenio Butelli, Katharina Bulling, Lionel Hill and Cathie Martin
Horticulturae 2021, 7(9), 327; https://doi.org/10.3390/horticulturae7090327 - 21 Sep 2021
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 5932
Abstract
The range of colours of many flowers and fruits is largely due to variations in the types of anthocyanins produced. The degree of hydroxylation on the B-ring affects the hue of these pigments, causing a shift from the orange end of the visible [...] Read more.
The range of colours of many flowers and fruits is largely due to variations in the types of anthocyanins produced. The degree of hydroxylation on the B-ring affects the hue of these pigments, causing a shift from the orange end of the visible spectrum to the blue end. Besides colour, this modification can also affect other properties of anthocyanins, including the ability to protect the plant against different stresses or, when included in the human diet, to provide benefits for disease prevention. The level of hydroxylation of the B-ring is determined by the activity of two key hydroxylases, F3′H and F3′5′H, and by the substrate preference of DFR, an enzyme acting downstream in the biosynthetic pathway. We show that, in tomato, a strategy based on fruit-specific engineering of three regulatory genes (AmDel, AmRos1, AtMYB12) and a single biosynthetic gene (AmDFR), together with the availability of a specific mutation (f3′5′h), results in the generation of three different varieties producing high levels of anthocyanins with different levels of hydroxylation. These tomatoes show distinctive colours and mimic the classes of anthocyanins found in natural berries, thus providing unique near-isogenic material for different studies. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Genetic Modification of Flower and Fruit Color Variations in Horticultural Crops)
►▼ Show Figures

Graphical abstract

25 pages, 6175 KiB  
Article
Alteration of Flower Color in Viola cornuta cv. “Lutea Splendens” through Metabolic Engineering of Capsanthin/Capsorubin Synthesis
by Milena Trajković, Slađana Jevremović, Milan Dragićević, Ana D. Simonović, Angelina R. Subotić, Snežana Milošević and Aleksandar Cingel
Horticulturae 2021, 7(9), 324; https://doi.org/10.3390/horticulturae7090324 - 17 Sep 2021
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 3078
Abstract
Flower color is an important characteristic that determines the commercial value of ornamental plants. The development of modern biotechnology methods such as genetic engineering enables the creation of new flower colors that cannot be achieved with classical methods of hybridization or mutational breeding. [...] Read more.
Flower color is an important characteristic that determines the commercial value of ornamental plants. The development of modern biotechnology methods such as genetic engineering enables the creation of new flower colors that cannot be achieved with classical methods of hybridization or mutational breeding. This is the first report on the successful Agrobacterium-mediated genetic transformation of Viola cornuta L. The hypocotyl explants of cv. “Lutea Splendens” variety with yellow flowers were transformed with A. tumefaciens carrying empty pWBVec10a vector (Llccs−) or pWBVec10a/CaMV 35S::Llccs::TNos vector (Llccs+) for capsanthin/capsorubin synthase gene (Llccs) from tiger lily (Lilium lancifolium). A comparative study of shoot multiplication, rooting ability during culture in vitro, as well as phenotypic characteristics of untransformed (control) and transgenic Llccs− and Llccs+ plants during ex vitro growth and flowering is presented. Successful integration of Llccs transgene allows the synthesis of red pigment capsanthin in petal cells that gives flowers different shades of an orange/reddish color. We demonstrate that the ectopic expression of Llccs gene in ornamental plants, such as V. cornuta “Lutea Splendens” could successfully be used to change flower color from yellow to different shades of orange. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Genetic Modification of Flower and Fruit Color Variations in Horticultural Crops)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

Review

Jump to: Research

18 pages, 3045 KiB  
Review
Fruit Colour and Novel Mechanisms of Genetic Regulation of Pigment Production in Tomato Fruits
by Silvia Gonzali and Pierdomenico Perata
Horticulturae 2021, 7(8), 259; https://doi.org/10.3390/horticulturae7080259 - 21 Aug 2021
Cited by 19 | Viewed by 6433
Abstract
Fruit colour represents a genetic trait with ecological and nutritional value. Plants mainly use colour to attract animals and favour seed dispersion. Thus, in many species, fruit colour coevolved with frugivories and their preferences. Environmental factors, however, represented other adaptive forces and further [...] Read more.
Fruit colour represents a genetic trait with ecological and nutritional value. Plants mainly use colour to attract animals and favour seed dispersion. Thus, in many species, fruit colour coevolved with frugivories and their preferences. Environmental factors, however, represented other adaptive forces and further diversification was driven by domestication. All these factors cooperated in the evolution of tomato fruit, one of the most important in human nutrition. Tomato phylogenetic history showed two main steps in colour evolution: the change from green-chlorophyll to red-carotenoid pericarp, and the loss of the anthocyanic pigmentation. These events likely occurred with the onset of domestication. Then spontaneous mutations repeatedly occurred in carotenoid and phenylpropanoid pathways, leading to colour variants which often were propagated. Introgression breeding further enriched the panel of pigmentation patterns. In recent decades, the genetic determinants underneath tomato colours were identified. Novel evidence indicates that key regulatory and biosynthetic genes undergo mechanisms of gene expression regulation that are much more complex than what was imagined before: post-transcriptional mechanisms, with RNA splicing among the most common, indeed play crucial roles to fine-tune the expression of this trait in fruits and offer new substrate for the rise of genetic variables, thus providing further evolutionary flexibility to the character. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Genetic Modification of Flower and Fruit Color Variations in Horticultural Crops)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:
 
Displaying articles 1-4
Back to TopTop