Anthocyanins: from biosynthesis regulation to crop improvement
Xia Sun, Qiongqiong Zhang, Huapeng Zhou
Abstract
Anthocyanins are natural water-soluble pigments belonging to the large class of flavonoid compounds, which are crucial secondary metabolites with multiple activities. Anthocyanins ubiquitously exist in plants and play an important role notably in plant stress tolerance, such as resistance to low temperature, drought, high light as well as nutrient starvation. The basic signaling networks of anthocyanin biosynthesis in model plants have been characterized, but the whole regulatory mechanism still needs to be fully elucidated. Here we briefly review the research progress on anthocyanin biosynthesis, focusing on the implicated regulatory components, transcription factors (TFs) and environmental regulations. An overview of the essential contribution of anthocyanins to plant resistance to environmental stresses is also provided. The construction of plants enriched in anthocyanins might be a versatile way for crop improvement, and recent advances in this field are also discussed.