ANTHOCYANIN1 from Solanum chilense is more efficient in accumulating anthocyanin metabolites than its Solanum lycopersicum counterpart in association with the ANTHOCYANIN FRUIT phenotype of tomato

Anthocyanins are flavonoid metabolites contributing attractive colors and antioxidant qualities to the human diet. Accordingly, there is a growing interest in developing crops enriched with these compounds. Fruits of the cultivated tomato, Solanum (S.) lycopersicum, do not normally produce high levels of anthocyanins. However, several wild tomato species yield anthocyanin-pigmented fruits, and this trait has been introgressed into the cultivated tomato. Two genes encoding homologous R2R3 MYB transcription factors, termed ANT1 and AN2, were previously genetically implicated in anthocyanin accumulation in tomato fruit peels of the ANTHOCYANIN FRUIT (AFT) genotype originating from S. chilense. Here we compared transgenic tomato plants constitutively over-expressing the S. lycopersicum (35S::ANT1(L)) or the S. chilense (35S::ANT1(C)) allele, and show that each displayed variable levels of purple pigmentation in vegetative as well as reproductive tissues. However, 35S::ANT1(C) was significantly more efficient in producing anthocyanin pigments, attributed to its gene coding-sequence rather than to its transcript levels. These results expand the potential of enhancing anthocyanin levels through engineering coding-sequence polymorphisms in addition to the transcriptional alterations commonly used. In addition, a segregating population obtained from a recombinant genotype revealed that the native ANT1, and not AN2, is fully associated with the AFT phenotype and that ANT1 alone can generate the characteristic phenotype of anthocyanin accumulation in AFT fruits. Our results therefore provide further support to the hypothesis that ANT1 is the gene responsible for anthocyanin accumulation in fruits of the AFT genotype.