Abstract

Anthocyanin biosynthesis is mainly controlled by MYB–bHLH–WD40 (MBW) complexes that modulate the expression of anthocyanin biosynthetic genes (ABGs). The MYB regulators involved in anthocyanin biosynthesis arose early during plant evolution and thus might function divergently in different evolutionary lineages. Although the anthocyanin-promoting R2R3-MYB regulators in eudicots have been comprehensively explored, little consensus has been reached about functional discrepancies versus conservation among MYB regulators from different plant lineages. Here, we integrated transcriptome analysis, gene expression profiles, gain-of-function experiments and transient protoplast transfection assays to functionally characterize the monocot Freesia hybrida anthocyanin MYB regulator gene FhPAP1, which showed correlations with late ABGs. FhPAP1 could activate ABGs as well as TT8-clade genes FhTT8L, AtTT8 and NtAN1 when overexpressed in Freesia, Arabidopsis and tobacco, respectively. Consistently, FhPAP1 could interact with FhTT8L and FhTTG1 to form the conserved MBW complex and shared similar target genes with its orthologs from Arabidopsis. Most prominently, FhPAP1 displayed higher transactivation capacity than its homologs in Arabidopsis and tobacco, which was instantiated in its powerful regulation on ABGs. Moreover, we found that FhPAP1 might be the selected gene during the domestication and rapid evolution of the wild Freesia species to generate intensive flower pigmentation. These results showed that while the MBW complex was highly evolutionarily conserved between tested monocot and core eudicot plants, participating MYB regulators showed functional differences in transactivation capacity according to their activation domain and played important roles in the flower coloration domestication and evolution of angiosperms.