Vaccinium as a comparative system for understanding of complex flavonoid accumulation profiles and regulation in fruit

The genus Vaccinium L. (Ericaceae) contains premium berryfruit crops, including blueberry, cranberry, bilberry, and lingonberry. Consumption of Vaccinium berries is strongly associated with various potential health benefits, many of which are attributed to the relatively high concentrations of flavonoids, including the anthocyanins that provide the attractive red and blue berry colors. Because these phytochemicals are increasingly appealing to consumers, they have become a crop breeding target. There has been substantial recent progress in Vaccinium genomics and genetics together with new functional data on the transcriptional regulation of flavonoids. This is helping to unravel the developmental control of flavonoids and identify genetic regions and genes that can be selected for to further improve Vaccinium crops and advance our understanding of flavonoid regulation and biosynthesis across a broader range of fruit crops. In this update we consider the recent progress in understanding flavonoid regulation in fruit crops, using Vaccinium as an example and highlighting the significant gains in both genomic tools and functional analysis.

Automated summary

The genus Vaccinium L. (Ericaceae) contains premium berryfruit crops, which are associated with various potential health benefits attributed to their high concentrations of flavonoids. Recent progress in Vaccinium genomics and genetics, as well as functional data on flavonoid regulation, have furthered our understanding of crop improvement and flavonoid biosynthesis. This update highlights the significant gains in genomic tools and functional analysis, using Vaccinium as an example.