The reduce of Rubisco protein by gene silence in petunia changed the composition and distribution of the pigments in flowers

Abstract

Decrease in Rubisco in transgenic plants leads to decrease of chlorophyll (Chl). We observed that reduce of Rubisco by gene silence in a transgenic petunia with magenta flower not only lowered Chl content but also changed composition and distribution of pigments in flowers. The shoots with moderate reduce in Rubisco produced flowers with thicker color with red stripes on flower petals (type I). The shoots with severe reduce in Rubisco produced flowers with thicker color and purple stripes or spots on flower petals (type II). Our measurement showed that total flower pigment in type I and type II flowers was 1.22 and 1.35 fold of normal flower, respectively. TLC analyses suggested that cyanidin was increased largely in type I and type II flowers and a lot of dephinidin were produced in type II flowers. We are investigating the mechanism controlling this phenomenon.