Inheritance patterns of anthocyanins in berry skin and flesh of the interspecific population derived from teinturier grape

Successful cross-breeding requires the investigation into the inheritance pattern of desirable traits. The present study recorded the segregation in coloration and analyzed anthocyanin concentration and composition in berry skin and flesh of the F1 interspecific populations (‘Beifeng’ × ‘Yan-73’) during the three successive growing seasons. All the progeny presented color in berry skin, whereas segregation was observed in berry flesh coloration with the ratio of 1:1. Meanwhile, attentions were paid to anthocyanin mono-and di-glucosides for the first time. Di-glucosides were only detected in the maternal parent ‘Beifeng’ and around a half number of the progeny in berry skin and colored flesh. On the other hand, mono-glucosides were detected in both parents and all the progeny in berry skin and with colored flesh. Concentrations of total and major anthocyanins in the progeny were continuously distributed and skewed towards the low concentration area. Transgressive inheritance was also noted, indicated by the exceptionally high anthocyanin concentrations observed amongst some of the progeny. Positive correlations were observed between traits except the slightly negative correlations between mono-and di-glucosides in both skin and flesh. These results are of both practical and scientific interests for further breeding efforts and researches on different coloration mechanisms in berry skin and flesh.