Abstract
Anthocyanins add significant nutritional value to the plant-derived foods that contain them because of their health-promoting effects. In tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.), anthocyanins are normally synthesized only in vegetative tissues. Atroviolacium (atv) is a mutant characterized by intense anthocyanin pigmentation in the vegetative tissues. In this study, we investigated the anthocyanin biosynthetic pathway in this mutant and in its genetic background (Ailsa Craig, AC) in order to reveal the molecular regulation of anthocyanin biosynthesis in this line, and to find out where the anthocyanin biosynthesis is intensified. To our knowledge, this is the first report showing the sucrose-induced accumulation of anthocyanins in vegetative tissues of tomato, and demonstrating the molecular regulation of anthocyanin biosynthesis in atv mutant.