Colour bio-factories: Towards scale-up production of anthocyanins in plant cell cultures.

Anthocyanins are widely distributed, glycosylated, water-soluble plant pigments, which give many fruits and flowers their red, purple or blue colouration. Their beneficial effects in a dietary context have encouraged increasing use of anthocyanins as natural colourants in the food and cosmetic industries. However, the limited availability and diversity of anthocyanins commercially have initiated searches for alternative sources of these natural colourants. In plants, high-level production of secondary metabolites, such as anthocyanins, can be achieved by engineering of regulatory genes as well as genes encoding biosynthetic enzymes. We have used tobacco lines which constitutively produce high levels of cyanidin 3-O-rutinoside, delphinidin 3-O-rutinoside or a novel anthocyanin, acylated cyanidin 3-O-(coumaroyl) rutinoside to generate cell suspension cultures. The cell lines are stable in their production rates and superior to conventional plant cell cultures. Scale-up of anthocyanin production in small scale fermenters has been demonstrated. The cell cultures have also proven to be a suitable system for production of 13C-labelled anthocyanins. Our method for anthocyanin production is transferable to other plant species, such as Arabidopsis thaliana, demonstrating the potential of this approach for making a wide range of highly-decorated anthocyanins. The tobacco cell cultures represent a customisable and sustainable alternative to conventional anthocyanin production platforms and have considerable potential for use in industrial and medical applications of anthocyanins.

Thermoperiodic Control of Floral Induction Involves Modulation of the Diurnal FLOWERING LOCUS T Expression Pattern.

Thermoperiodism is defined as the ability to discriminate between day temperature (DT) and night temperature (NT). Our aim was to shed light on the mechanistic basis of thermoperiodic floral induction with acceleration under lower DT than NT compared with other DT-NT combinations at the same average daily temperature (ADT), a response exploited in temperate area greenhouses. Arabidopsis thaliana floral pathway mutants and a lhy circadian clock mutant as well as the expression of floral integrators and LHY (LATE ELONGATED HYPOCOTYL) were studied under different DT-NT combinations, all at the same ADT. We show that acceleration of floral induction under lower DT than NT is linked to increased FT expression early during the day and generally increased LFY expression preceding visible flower buds, compared with higher DT than NT or equal DT and NT. Consistent with FLOWERING LOCUS T (FT) action through LEAFY (LFY), time to floral transition in ft-1 and lfy-1 was similar under all treatments, in contrast to the situation for soc1-1, which behaved like the wild type (WT). The lhy-21 mutants did not discriminate between opposite DT-NT combinations, whereas LHY expression in the WT differed in these temperature regimes. This might suggest that LHY plays a role in thermoperiodic control of floral induction. We conclude that thermoperiodic control of floral transition is associated with modulation of the diurnal expression patterns of FT, with timing of temperature alteration being important rather than ADT.

Expression patterns of photoperiod and temperature regulated heading date genes in Oryza sativa.

In plants, flowering is a major biological phenomenon, which is regulated by an array of interactions occurring between biotic and abiotic factors. In our study, we have compared the expression profiles of flowering genes involved in the flowering pathway, which are influenced by conditions like photoperiod and temperature from seedling to heading developmental stages in two Oryza sativa indica varieties, viz., Zhenshan 97 and Minghui 63 using a expression network approach. Using the network expression approach, we found 17 co-expressed genes having the same expression profile pattern as three key photoperiod flowering genes Hd1, Ehd1 and Hd3a. We also demonstrated that these three co-expressed genes have a similar simulation pattern as temperature flowering genes. Based on our observations, we hypothesize that photoperiod and temperature regulate flowering pathways independently. The present study provides a basis for understanding the network of co-expressed genes involved in flowering pathway and presents a way to demonstrate the behavior of specific gene sets in specific cultivars.

Thermoperiodic growth control by gibberellin does not involve changes in photosynthetic or respiratory capacities in pea.

Active gibberellin (GA(1)) is an important mediator of thermoperiodic growth in pea. Plants grown under lower day than night temperature (negative DIF) elongate less and have reduced levels of GA(1) compared with plants grown at higher day than night temperature (positive DIF). By comparing the wild type (WT) and the elongated DELLA mutant la cry(s), this study has examined the effect of impaired GA signalling on thermoperiodic growth, photosynthesis, and respiration in pea. In the WT a negative DIF treatment reduced stem mass ratio and increased both root mass ratio and leaf mass ratio (dry weight of specific tissue related to total plant dry weight). Leaf, root and stem mass ratios of la cry(s) were not affected by DIF. Under negative DIF, specific leaf area (projected leaf area per unit leaf dry mass), biomass, and chlorophyll content of WT and la cry(s) plants were reduced. Young, expanding leaves of plants grown under negative DIF had reduced leaf area-based photosynthetic capacity. However, the highest photosynthetic electron transport rate was found in fully expanded leaves of WT plants grown under negative DIF. Negative DIF increased night respiration and was similar for both genotypes. It is concluded that GA signalling is not a major determinant of leaf area-based photosynthesis or respiration and that reduced dry weight of plants grown under negative DIF is caused by a GA-mediated reduction of photosynthetic stem and leaf tissue, reduced photosynthesis of young, expanding leaves, and reduced growth caused by low temperature in the photoperiod.