Analysis of <i>Anthocyanin-Less 2</i> Diversity in Barley Reveals a Specific Allele to Cause Purple-Colored Grains
The purple color of the barley (<i>Hordeum vulgare</i> L.) grain is attributed to anthocyanins which are beneficial for human health. Synthesis of these pigments in both grain and vegetative tissues is controlled by ANT1 and ANT2 that belong to the families R2R3-MYB and bHLH of transcription factors, respectively. Here, we investigated the role of the <i>Ant2</i> gene in pigmentation of grains compared to vegetative tissue. After screening of 504 barley accessions, six relevant alleles of <i>Ant2</i> were identified. These involve distinct insertions in the promoter and/or in intron 6. Allele <i>Ant2.l</i> was found in all purple-grained barley accessions and was more strongly expressed compared to the alleles present in the other lines. The crucial role of <i>Ant2.l</i> in grain pigmentation was validated by targeted mutagenesis using RNA-guided endonuclease Cas9. It is further shown that the other <i>Ant2</i> alleles do not affect grain pigmentation while being essential for pigmentation of vegetative tissues.
Authors
- Shakhira Zakhrabekova (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5309-5459)
- Mats Hansson (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0168-9968)
- Tatjana V. Kukoeva (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1425-7849)
- Jochen Kumlehn (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7080-7983)
- O. Y. Shoeva (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5289-8631)
- Iris Hoffie (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1666-8585)
- Anastasiya A. Egorova (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6745-3077)
- Е. К. Хлесткина (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8470-8254)
- Gennady V. Vasiliev (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0929-6832)
- Christian Hertig (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2320-7579)
- Sophia V. Gerasimova (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8626-1831)
- О. Н. Ковалева (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3990-6526)
- Varvara D. Zedgenizova
Institutions
- Lund University (SE)
- Institute of Cytology and Genetics (RU)
- Leibniz-Institut für Pflanzengenetik und Kulturpflanzenforschung (IPK) (DE)
- Fernand Braudel Institute of World Economics (BR)
- N.I. Vavilov Research Institute of Plant Industry (RU)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry
- Published
- 2025-09-25
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jafc.5c05032
- Primary Topic
- Plant Gene Expression Analysis
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00