Photoregulation of phenylalanine ammonia‐lyase (PAL) and chalcone synthase (CHS) in the accumulation of anthocyanin in alpine and prairie ecotypes of Stellaria longipes under varied R/FR

• Published in: Physiologia Plantarum
• Main Authors: Alokam, Suneetha, Li, Yujing, Li, Wenze, Chinnappa, C. C., Reid, David M.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 2002
• Subjects: Stellaria longipes
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1034/j.1399-3054.2002.1160412.x; https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1034%2Fj.1399-3054.2002.1160412.x; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1034/j.1399-3054.2002.1160412.x

We studied mRNA accumulation and enzyme activity of phenylalanine ammonia‐lyase (PAL) and chalcone synthase (CHS) in alpine and prairie ecotypes of Stellaria longipes . The results show that light is required for the induction of PAL and CHS and accumulation of anthocyanins. Although both the ecotypes showed higher levels of anthocyanins under high R/FR (1.9) than under low R/FR (0.7), neither of the ecotypes showed any significant difference in the transcript abundance of PAL or CHS between low R/FR and high R/FR. However, both ecotypes showed significantly higher levels of CHS activity under high R/FR than under low R/FR corresponding to their anthocyanin accumulation. These results indicate that in S. longipes regulation of CHS activity is more specific to anthocyanin synthesis than PAL under varied R/FR, with a time lag between the enzyme activity and the accumulation of anthocyanins.