Suppression of the biosynthesis of proanthocyanidin in Arabidopsis by a chimeric PAP1 repressor

Flavonoids are secondary metabolites that are specific to higher plants. PAPI, a member of the family of MYB domain transcription factors in Arabidopsis, is a positive regulator of the biosynthesis of anthocyanin. We show here that a chimeric PAP1 repressor, in which the EAR-motif repression domain from SUPERMAN was fused to PAPI, suppressed the expression of four flavonoid biosynthetic genes, namely CHS, DFR, LDOX, and BAN, in siliques, and inhibited the accumulation of proanthocyanidin, even in the presence of an endogenous positive regulator, such as TT2. This suppression resulted in the formation of light yellow seeds in 35S::PAP1 SRDX transgenic plants. Our results indicate that PAP1 has the potential ability to regulate the biosynthesis not only of anthocyanin but also of proanthocyanidin. Our gene silencing system, using chimeric repressors, appears to be a useful tool for the manipulation of the biosynthesis of secondary metabolites in plants.