Unstable anthocyanin pigmentation in Streptocarpus sect. Saintpaulia (African violet) is due to transcriptional selectivity of a single MYB gene.

ABSTRACT: Saintpaulia (African violet) pigmentation is notoriously unstable and sometimes forms white stripes, particularly following passage through tissue culture. White-striped petals were thought to be due to periclinal chimeras, but we confirmed that white stripes result from epigenetic regulation rather than periclinal chimeras based on the flower color traits of plants obtained from tissue culture. Gene expression in several plant lines, anthocyanin quantification, bisulfite sequencing, and methylation analyses were used to demonstrate the presence of a single MYB gene responsible for pigment variation. We identified SiMYB2 as the cause of variations in tissue color patterning, and that two RNAs were generated from SiMYB2. SiMYB2-Long was expressed in colored tissues, while SiMYB2-Short was e

SUBMITTER: Kurata D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12222921 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature