Passeri Valentina, Koes Ronald, Quattrocchio Francesca M
Plant Development and (Epi)Genetics, Swammerdam Institute of Life Sciences, University of Amsterdam Amsterdam, Netherlands.
Front Plant Sci. 2016 Feb 16;7:153. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2016.00153. eCollection 2016.
In the last decade plant biotechnologists and breeders have made several attempt to improve the antioxidant content of plant-derived food. Most efforts concentrated on increasing the synthesis of antioxidants, in particular anthocyanins, by inducing the transcription of genes encoding the synthesizing enzymes. We present here an overview of economically interesting plant species, both food crops and ornamentals, in which anthocyanin content was improved by traditional breeding or transgenesis. Old genetic studies in petunia and more recent biochemical work in brunfelsia, have shown that after synthesis and compartmentalization in the vacuole, anthocyanins need to be stabilized to preserve the color of the plant tissue over time. The final yield of antioxidant molecules is the result of the balance between synthesis and degradation. Therefore the understanding of the mechanism that determine molecule stabilization in the vacuolar lumen is the next step that needs to be taken to further improve the anthocyanin content in food. In several species a phenomenon known as fading is responsible for the disappearance of pigmentation which in some case can be nearly complete. We discuss the present knowledge about the genetic and biochemical factors involved in pigment preservation/destabilization in plant cells. The improvement of our understanding of the fading process will supply new tools for both biotechnological approaches and marker-assisted breeding.
在过去十年中，植物生物技术学家和育种家多次尝试提高植物源食品中的抗氧化剂含量。大多数努力集中在通过诱导编码合成酶的基因转录来增加抗氧化剂，特别是花青素的合成。我们在此概述了经济上有重要意义的植物物种，包括粮食作物和观赏植物，其中花青素含量通过传统育种或转基因技术得到了提高。矮牵牛的早期遗传学研究以及最近对鸳鸯茉莉的生化研究表明，花青素在液泡中合成并分隔后，需要进行稳定化处理，以保持植物组织的颜色。抗氧化剂分子的最终产量是合成与降解之间平衡的结果。因此，了解决定液泡腔中分子稳定化的机制是进一步提高食品中花青素含量所需采取的下一步措施。在几个物种中，一种称为褪色的现象导致色素沉着消失，在某些情况下几乎可以完全消失。我们讨论了目前关于植物细胞中色素保存/不稳定化所涉及的遗传和生化因素的知识。对褪色过程的深入理解将为生物技术方法和标记辅助育种提供新工具。
