A molecular assessment of the genetic model of spathe color inheritance in Anthurium andraeanum (Hort.)

Past genetic studies have shown three independent loci designated O, R and M control spathe color in Anthurium andraeanum (Hort.). To evaluate the genetic model and to understand the control of anthocyanin biosynthesis at the molecular level, the expression of the anthocyanin biosynthetic genes, CHS, F3H, DFR, ANS and F3'H, was examined at the mRNA and protein levels and correlated to anthocyanin content and spathe color in eight genetically characterized anthurium cultivars representing different states of the O, R and M loci. The results showed that the expression of F3H and ANS was co-regulated by a putative transcription factor encoded by the R locus, and the expression of DFR was regulated by a putative transcription factor encoded by the O locus. White cultivars, which were in the homozygous recessive state for either O or R or both, exhibited reduced expression of the anthocyanin biosynthetic genes and hence had negligible levels of anthocyanin. Cultivars that were mm displayed reduced expression of F3'H suggesting that it may either encode a defective form of the F3'H gene or a regulator that controls its expression. Additionally, a correlation between anthocyanin abundance and the expression of F3'H in the red cultivars suggested that F3'H expression may be a key control point in the regulation of anthocyanin biosynthesis in anthurium and hence plays a major role in influencing the shade intensity in red cultivars. These findings provide evidence in support of the genetic model for color inheritance in the spathe.