Transcription factors repressing anthocyanin biosynthesis in horticultural crops

Abstract

Anthocyanins are an important quality trait in horticultural crops. Transcription factors (TFs) play critical regulatory roles in the biosynthesis of anthocyanins. Many TFs are well-known as transcriptional activators of anthocyanin biosynthesis in horticultural crops, whereas TFs suppressing anthocyanin synthesis have recently been acknowledged. Here we focus on recent advances on the roles and mechanisms of TFs that negatively regulate anthocyanin biosynthesis in horticultural crops. We discuss the TFs repressing the function of the activation complexes, the TFs regulating repressors, and the repression motifs, as well as posttranscriptional regulations, post-translation modifications, and methylation of TFs to repress anthocyanin biosynthesis. This information will provide insights into the future utilization of these TFs to improve the quality of horticultural crops.

Keywords

• horticultural crops
• repression
• transcription factor
• anthocyanin biosynthesis