Background:
Several
MYB genes belonging to R2R3 MYB transcription factors have been used in several plant
species to enhance anthocyanin production, and have shown various expression or regulation patterns. This
study focused on the effect of ectopic expression of an
RsMYB1 isolated from radish (
Raphanus sativa
) on
chrysanthemum cv. ‘Shinma’.
Results:
The RT-PCR results confirmed that
RsMYB1 regulated the expression of three key biosynthetic genes
(
CmF3H,
CmDFR, and
CmANS) that are responsible for anthocyanin production in transgenic chrysanthemum,
but were not detected in the non-transgenic line. In all transgenic plants, higher expression levels of key
biosynthetic genes were observed in flowers than in leaves. However, the presence of
RsMYB1 in
chrysanthemum did not affect any morphological characteristics, such as plant height, leaf shape or size, and
number of flowers. Furthermore, no anthocyanin accumulation was visually observed in the leaves and floral
tissue of any of the transgenic lines, which was further confirmed by anthocyanin content estimation.
Conclusion:
To our knowledge, this is the first time the role of an MYB transcription factor in anthocyanin
production has been investigated in chrysanthemum.
