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Annotation of Plant Gene Function via Combined Genomics, Metabolomics and Informatics
Published on: June 17, 2012
Identification of the Biosynthetic Pathway for Anthocyanin Triglucoside, the Precursor of Polyacylated Anthocyanin,
Riko Horiuchi1, Yuzo Nishizaki2, Natsumi Okawa1
1Department of Food and Nutritional Sciences, Faculty of Food and Nutritional Sciences, Toyo University 1-1-1, Izumino, Itaklura-machi, Ora-gun, Gunma 374-0193, Japan.
Abstract:
Red cabbage anthocyanin is utilized as a natural food colorant because of its stable and brilliant coloration. The major anthocyanin of red cabbage is cyanidin (Cy) mono- and di-acyltriglucoside; however, the biosynthetic pathway to generate this anthocyanin remains unclear. We isolated and identified four uridine diphosphate-glucose-dependent glucosyltransferase (UGT) cDNAs from red cabbage using RNA-seq. UGTs are involved in Cy triglucoside (CytriG) synthesis, the precursor of Cy acyltriglucoside. Enzymatic assays using recombinant proteins suggested that UGT78D5 encodes Cy 3GT, UGT79B45 encodes Cy 3-glucoside GT, UGT75C2 encodes Cy 3-sophoroside (Cy3Sp) 5GT, and UGT79B44 encodes flavonol 3-glucoside GT. Anthocyanin GT assays using crude proteins prepared from red cabbage suggested that CytriG is produced from intermediate products in the following order: Cy, Cy3G, Cy3Sp, and CytriG.
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