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Inheritance patterns for table grape anthocyanins were investigated on three cross offspring populations during two successive years. Sixteen anthocyanins were detected, and all were monoglucoside derivatives. The proportion of anthocyanins in the maternal parent determined the proportion of anthocyanins in the offspring. But the absolute content of the maternal parent had no significant effect on progenies. Peonidin 3-O-glucoside and malvidin 3-O-glucoside were the most abundant anthocyanins, not only in the maternal parent but also in the progenies. The presence or absence of anthocyanins in grape skin was inheritance of a quality character controlled by oligogenes, and anthocyanins content was a quantitative character controlled by polygenes. Via principal component (PC) analysis, factors that affected the total content of cross progeny populations were peonidin 3-O-glucoside, malvidin 3-O-glucoside, delphinidin 3-O-glucoside, cyanidin 3-O-glucoside, petunidin 3-O-glucoside, peonidin 3-O-(6-O-coumaryl)-glucoside, and malvidin 3-O-(6-O-coumaryl)-glucoside. Anthocyanins content was a high broad sense heritability character (H2), and H2 was stable in different cross combinations (ranging from 0.65 to 0.98).

The anthocyanins of 130 cultivars, 13 lines and 3 wild forms of Iris ensata were analyzed by HPLC, and these plants were classified into 16 types of major anthocyanins. Among these types, 8 types such as petunidin 3RGac5G – delphinidin 3RGac5G, delphinidin 3RGac5G – petunidin 3RGac5G, cyanidin 3RGac5G – peonidin 3RGac5G, delphinidin 3RG – delphinidin 3RGac, petunidin 3RG5G – malvidin 3RG5G, malvidin 3RG5G – peonidin 3RG5G, peonidin 3RG5G – cyanidin 3RG5G and peonidin 3RG – cyanidin 3RG were obtained as new types. In these new types, peonidin 3RG – cyanidin 3RG and peonidin 3RG5G – cyanidin 3RG5G types were noteworthy because cyanidin 3RG and cyanidin 3RG5G are useful for the breeding of red flowers in I. ensata.

The fading of flower color in bluish purple and reddish purple cultivars of Iris ensata and the in vitro stability of malvidin 3RGac5Gand petunidin 3RGac5G due to copigmentation with isovetixin under different pH conditions were examined. The bluish purple cultivars exhibited higher flower color stability than the reddish purple cultivars 2 days after anthesis. In the absence of isovitexin, malvidin 3RGac5G and petunidin 3RGac5G were not able to maintain color stability except at low pH. However, the color stability of malvidin 3RGac5G and petunidin 3RGac5G was increased by copigmentation with isovitexin under all pH conditions tested. Most remarkable was the stabilization of both anthocyanins due to the copigmentation at pH 4.2–6.2. Therefore, it can be concluded that the stability of flower color in the bluish purple cultivars of malvidin 3RGac5Gand petunidin 3RGac5G type of I. ensata is caused at least in part by the copigmentation between these anthocyanins and isovitexin.

The characteristics of autoallotetraploid hybrids obtained from the cross between Iris ensata cv. Raspberry Rimmed (4X) and amphidiploids of I. laevigata × I. ensata were examined and compared with those of their parents. The color of inner and outer perianths in the autoallotetraploids were bluish purple and similar to those of the amphidiploid parent. However, the autoallotetraploids exhibited low pollen fertility. In addition, the autoallotetraploids were characterized by 17 or 19 anthocyanins and had high resemblance to their parents in the anthocyanin expression. Among these anthocyanins, malvidin 3RGac5G and petunidin 3RGac5G were regarded as major anthocyanins in the autoallotetraploids and their parents, but the differences in the ratios of malvidin 3RGac5G:petunidin 3RGac5G between the autoallotetraploids and their parents were ca. 2:1 for the former and ca. 1:1 for the latter. No viable hybrid seeds were obtained from the reciprocal crosses between I. ensata (2X and 4X) and the autoallotetraploids. Finally, the interspecific cross-breeding of I. ensata using the autoallotetraploids is discussed.

The in vitro identification of copigmentation was carried out using anthocyanins, such as malvidin 3RGac5G, petunidin 3RGac5G and delphinidin 3RGac5G and the flavone isovitexin. These are major pigments of Iris ensata. These anthocyanins brought about copigmentation, i.e., the bathochromic shift (bluing effect) of visible λ max due to increased concentrations of isovitexin, and 32 to 35 nm were estimated as the magnitude (Δλ max) of each shift. In addition, the absorption spectrum of 0.1 mM malvidin 3RGac5G, 0.07 mM petunidin 3RGac5G and 0.7 mM isovitexin mixture closely matched those of the fresh outer perianths of the bluish purple cultivars, ‘Suiten-isshoku’, ‘Hekikai’ and ‘Yakonotama’ which belong to the malvidin 3RGac5G - petunidin 3RGac5G type of I. ensata. Therefore, these results indicated that the bluing effect on the flower color of the bluish purple cultivars of this species was caused at least in part by the copigmentation between these anthocyanins and the flavone isovitexin. For the copigment effects of isovitexin among malvidin 3RGac5G, petunidin 3RGac5G and delphinidin 3RGac5G, λ max and Δλ max of delphinidin 3RGac5G was slightly higher than those of malvidin 3RGac5G or petunidin 3RGac5G, and the copigmentation of delphinidin 3RGac5G was characterized by a higher concentration of isovitexin. Finally, the breeding for blue flowers due to copigmentation of delphinidin 3RGac5G with isovitexin in I. ensata was discussed.

The anthocyanins of 43 varieties and 4 wild forms of Iris ensata in their outer perianths were analysed by high-performance liquid chromatography procedures. Using the different components of major anthocyanins, each variety and wild form were classified into six types such as malvidin 3RGac5G-petunidin 3RGac5G, petunidin 3RGac5G-malvidin 3RGac5G, malvidin 3RGac5G, petunidin 3RGac5G, delphinidin 3RGac5G and malvidin 3RG5G-petunidin 3RG5G. Among these types, the delphinidin 3RGac5G type was noteworthy because such a type was useful for the breeding of a blue flower. The malvidin 3RGac5G-petunidin 3RGac5G type accounted for ca. 70% of the varieties and all wild forms examined. This type, therefore, was regarded as the basic one for I. ensata, while the other types were variants for major anthocyanins. There was no particular relationship between flower colors such as purple, red-purple, blue-purple, light-purple and pink and the types of major anthocyanins except for one, i.e. all varieties classified into the malvidin 3RGac5G or petunidin 3RGac5G type exhibited pink flowers. Finally, the utility of the relative species for the breeding of new flower varieties of I. ensata was discussed.

The objective of this study was to examine the potential of Solanum scabrum to provide a colorant for food. We conducted a field trial with eight accessions from four different sources and recorded both morphological variability and fruit yield differences between accessions. Further, anthocyanin and glucoalkaloid concentrations were determined. The accessions could be assigned to two distinct groups: a leafy vegetable type with toxic fruits used in Africa and a berry type with edible fruits known as Garden Huckleberry in North America, but both types had edible leaves with low glucoalkaloid concentrations. The leafy vegetable type set not much fruit. In contrast, the berry type yielded on average 800–900 g berries per plant with remarkable high anthocyanin concentrations of 8.1–13.9 g kg−1 fresh weight, calculated as petunidin 3-p-(coumaryl-runtinoside)-5-glucoside. Thus, S. scabrum can serve as a source for natural anthocyanin pigments. In particular, two accessions with a high fruit yield were promising candidates as a berry crop. One had the best anthocyanin concentration of the examined material and the other one had a low percentage of unripe berries as a further advantage.

Anthocyanins of colchicine-induced amphidiploids of I. laevigata × I. ensata were analyzed by the HPLC procedure and compared with those of parental species and F1 hybrids of I. laevigata × I. ensata. The amphidiploids were characterized by seventeen anthocyanins, and exhibited all anthocyanins of the parental species and the F1 hybrids. Malvidin 3RGac5G and petunidin 3RGac5G in anthocyanins detected were major pigments in the amphidiploids, which exhibited strongly the malvidin 3RGac5G-petunidin 3RGac5G type of I. ensata rather than the petunidin 3RGac5G-malvidin 3RGac5G type of I. laevigata. Moreover, a higher degree of anthocyanin content was observed in the amphidiploids and the F1 hybrids. Namely, the anthocyanin content of the amphidiploids and the F1 hybrids were 2.81 and 2.45 times as much as that of the mid-parent. This implies that there is a complementary effect on anthocyanin synthesis of parental genes in them. Finally, the utility of the amphidiploids was discussed.