Screening of novel anthocyanin mutants by re-irradiation of ion beams in mutant

Kitamura, Satoshi; Ono, Yutaka; Narumi, Issey*

Forward genetics approaches have helped elucidate the anthocyanin biosynthetic pathway in plants. We used the banyuls (ban) mutant, which accumulates anthocyanins, instead of colorless proanthocyanidin precursors, in immature seeds. In contrast to standard screens for mutants lacking anthocyanins in leaves/stems, we mutagenized ban plants and screened for mutants showing differences in pigmentation of immature seeds. The pale banyuls1 (pab1) mutation was found to show reduced levels of anthocyanins in immature seed coat. Here we characterize this mutant at the molecular level.