TITLE:
Overexpression of the Rosa rugosa RrGT1 Gene Induces Anthocyanin Accumulation in Tobacco
AUTHORS:
Xiaoming Sui*, Mingyuan Zhao*, Xu Han, Lanyong Zhao#, Zongda Xu#
KEYWORDS:
Rosa rugosa, RrGT1 Gene, Gene Expression, Overexpression, Tobacco, Anthocyanin
JOURNAL NAME:
Natural Science,
Vol.10 No.10,
October
16,
2018
ABSTRACT: Rosa rugosa has always been an
important plant in landscape application, and the improvements and innovations
about its flower color are particularly important. Glycosylation modification
fulfills an important role in increasing the stability and solubility of
anthocyanin in plants. In this study, based on the transcriptional database of R.
rugosa, a gene with full length cDNA of 1161 bp, encoding 386
amino acids, designated as RrGT1, were isolated from flowers of R.
rugosa “Zizhi” and then functionally characterized. Sequence alignments with the NCBI database show that the RrGT1 protein is a member of the GTB superfamily and has typical conserved amino acid
residues called PSPG that are crucial for RrGT1 enzyme activity. RrGT1 transcripts were detected in five flowering stages and seven tissues of R.
rugosa “Zizhi” and their expression
patterns corresponded with the accumulation of anthocyanins. Additionally, the in vivo function of RrGT1 was
investigated via its overexpression in tobacco. Transgenic tobacco plants
expressing RrGT1 induced anthocyanin accumulation in flowers, indicating
that RrGT1 could encode a functional glycosyltransferase (GT) protein
for anthocyanin biosynthesis and could function in other species. Therefore, we
speculated that glycosylation of RrGT1 played a crucial role in anthocyanin biosynthesis in R. rugosa.