Influence of Bagging on Color, Anthocyanin and Anthocyanin Biosynthetic Genes in Peel of Red Colored Mango Cv. Lily'

Sunlight influences many morphological, biochemical and molecular changes in fruits and the most important is color change associated with the development of pigments. The exposure to sunlight influences the anthocyanin content of the fruit peel. With the aim to understand the influence of bagging of fruits on the mango peel color, anthocyanin and expression of anthocyanin biosynthetic genes, an experiment was conducted by covering fruits of red colored cv. Lily' with muslin cloth. The observations were recorded for fruits of control (non-bagged) and fruits developing in shade. In bagged fruits, the color of peel changed towards lightness and yellowness. The reduction in anthocyanin was observed up to 17times in bagged and shaded fruits. We also observed the down-regulation of all anthocyanin biosynthetic genes in fruits under bagged and shaded conditions. This study reports the influence of bagging and shade on anthocyanin biosynthetic genes and subsequent change in the color of fruit peel.