Chinese Bulletin of Botany ›› 2010, Vol. 45 ›› Issue (06): 698-704.DOI: 10.3969/j.issn.1674-3466.2010.06.007

Previous Articles     Next Articles

Seasonal Changes in the Contents of Pigments and Anthocyanins Synthetase Activity of Sabina przewalskii and Sabina chinensis

Qiliang Jian1,2, Longying Wen2, Tuo Chen2, Manxiao Zhang2*, Shijian Xu1*   

  1. 1School of Life Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China;

    2State Key Laboratory of Cryosphere Science of the Cold and Arid Region Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China
  • Received:2010-03-22 Revised:2010-06-17 Online:2010-11-01 Published:2010-09-20
  • Contact: Manxiao Zhang, Shijian Xu

Abstract: We investigated leaves of Sabina przewalskii and Sabina chinensis for seasonal variations in the contents of anthocyanins (ANT), flavonoids (FLA), rhodoxanthins (RHO), chlorophylls (CHL) and carotenoids (CAR), as well as the activity of phenylalanine ammonialyase (PAL) and UDP glucose flavonoid glycosyltransferase (UFGT), the key synthetases of anthocyanins. The content of ANT and activities of PAL and UFGT were significantly higher in low-temperature months and were associated with changes in FLA, RHO and CAR of the two species. The variations in CHL were the opposite. The contents of ANT, FLA, RHO, CAR and CHL and activity of PAL and UFGT in S. przewalskii were higher than those in S. chinensis. The results suggested that ANT is an important secondary metabolite that has antifreezing properties and is an important protective substance that could resist low temperature and radiation stress. RHO and other pigments play an important role in resisting cold-induced photoinhibition.