Orange fruit color in Capsicum due to deletion of Capsanthin-capsorubin synthesis gene

Orange fruit color in Capsicum due to deletion of Capsanthin-capsorubin synthesis gene

2004

A:PS

Fruit colour of pungent pepper (Capsicum annuum) is a trait of economic importance in pepper breeding. To develop a system of molecular marker-assisted selection (MAS) for breeding pepper cultivars with various fruit colours, we conducted molecular genetic analyses on 6 genes involved in the carotenoid biosynthesis pathway. Capsanthin-capsorubin synthase (CCS) gene showed a polymorphism in the PCR pattern in the segregation population derived from a cross between a pepper accession (cv. msGTY-1) with orange fruits and a pepper accession (cv. 277long) with red fruits. There was a deletion in the upstream region of the CCS gene in the plants with orange fruits. Southern hybridization analysis and sequencing analysis indicated that 211-bp of the downstream region of the gene was conserved in the plants with orange fruits, while no transcript of the CCS gene was detected by RT-PCR in the mature orange fruits. Carotenoid composition analysis using the TLC method showed that one of the major pepper carotenoids, capsanthin, was present in the red fruits, but not in the orange fruits. The PCR polymorphism of the CCS gene and TLC pattern of carotenoid composition were completely cosegregated with the fruit colour in the F2 population, suggesting that the CCS gene determines the fruit colour by changing the carotenoid composition.

v.54(1):33-39, BREEDING SCIENCE

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