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Swapping one red pigment for another

Nature Genetics volume 47, pages 5–6 (2015)Cite this article

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Betalains are bright red and yellow pigments, which are produced in only one order of plants, the Caryophyllales, and replace the more familiar anthocyanin pigments. The evolutionary origin of betalain production is a mystery, but a new study has identified the first regulator of betalain production and discovered a previously unknown link between the two pigment pathways.

Anthocyanins are nearly ubiquitous red to blue plant pigments that arose early in land plant evolution. Their roles range from providing color to flowers, fruit and foliage to helping counter the harmful effects of abiotic and biotic environmental stresses. New aspects of anthocyanin functions in plant biology and human health are constantly emerging. Yet, in Caryophyllales, many genera do not produce anthocyanins. In these species, the lack of anthocyanins is apparently compensated for by the production of an entirely unrelated group of pigments, the betalains. Production of anthocyanins and betalains is mutually exclusive—a species produces one pigment type or the other but never both. How and why these pigmentation systems arose has fascinated and puzzled evolutionary biologists and plant scientists for over half a century1. On page 92 of this issue, Alan Lloyd and colleagues2 now provide a key missing part of the puzzle.

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Figure 1: Pigmentation patterning due to betalains and anthocyanins.

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  1. Kevin M. Davies is at the New Zealand Institute for Plant and Food Research, Ltd., Palmerston North, New Zealand.,

    Kevin M Davies

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  1. Kevin M Davies
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Correspondence to Kevin M Davies.

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The author declares no competing financial interests.

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Davies, K. Swapping one red pigment for another. Nat Genet 47, 5–6 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/ng.3174

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