Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

Swapping one red pigment for another

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

Subjects

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.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Get just this article for as long as you need it

$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Pigmentation patterning due to betalains and anthocyanins.

References

  1. Brockington, S.F., Walker, R.H., Glover, B.J., Soltis, P.S. & Soltis, D.E. New Phytol. 190, 854–864 (2011).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Hatlestad, G.J. et al. Nat. Genet. 47, 92–96 (2015).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Feller, A., Machemer, K., Braun, E.L. & Grotewold, E. Plant J. 66, 94–116 (2011).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Stafford, H.A. Plant Sci. 101, 91–98 (1994).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Stracke, R., Werber, M. & Weisshaar, B. Curr. Opin. Plant Biol. 4, 447–456 (2001).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Albert, N.W. et al. Plant Cell 26, 962–980 (2014).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Stracke, R. et al. BMC Plant Biol. 14, 249 (2014).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Martin, C., Ellis, N. & Rook, F. Plant Physiol. 154, 506–511 (2010).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Paz-Ares, J., Ghosal, D., Wienand, U., Peterson, P.A. & Saedler, H. EMBO J. 6, 3553–3558 (1987).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Wessinger, C.A. & Rausher, M.D. J. Exp. Bot. 63, 5741–5749 (2012).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Schwinn, K. et al. Plant Cell 18, 831–851 (2006).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

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

    Kevin M Davies

Authors
  1. Kevin M Davies
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kevin M Davies.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The author declares no competing financial interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

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

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/ng.3174

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing