Identification of the Yellow Pigment in Saintpaulia Flowers

Abstract

A yellow flavonoid pigment was isolated from Saintpaulia ‘Tomorrow’s Snowy Night’ with pale yellow pigmentation at the petal base. The pigment, chalcononaringenin 2´,4´-diglucoside, was identified using chemical and spectroscopic methods. The amount of this pigment in somaclonal mutants from ‘Tomorrow’s Snowy Night’ whose petals looked yellow visually was eight-times higher than that in the mother plant, confirming that the accumulated yellow pigment in Saintpaulia petals was chalcononaringenin 2´,4´-diglucoside. Moreover, this yellow pigment also accumulated in the stamen filaments, and it was detected in the stamen filaments but not in the petals of the pink cultivar ‘Thamires’. This suggests that the yellow pigment generally accumulates in the stamen filaments of Saintpaulia and that most cultivars have the capability to biosynthesize this yellow pigment regardless of their flower colors. These results may be useful to reveal the genetic mechanism for chalcononaringenin 2´,4´-diglucoside biosynthesis.