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Molecular transformations and self-association in anthocyanin pigment patterns

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Abstract

Spatial patterns of red, purple, and blue colors due to plant pigments called anthocyanins appear in a wide variety of flower petals. Activator and inhibitor proteins involved in anthocyanin synthesis in Mimulus (monkeyflowers) have been identified, and an activator–inhibitor system based on the classic Gierer–Meinhardt system has been proposed as a mathematical model. Analysis in this paper provides a prediction for the critical value of a dimensionless parameter, the ratio of the degradation rate constants of the inhibitor and activator, for pattern formation to occur, and numerical simulations demonstrate the potential for this system to form disordered hexagonal or stripe patterns. We provide experimental evidence for spatial variation in total anthocyanin concentration and for concentration-dependent anthocyanin association. Extending the mathematical model to include anthocyanin transport and diffusion, a series of molecular transformations encompassing acid-base and hydration (speciation) reactions, and self association, we predict that spatial color patterns are accompanied by complex spatial variation in the degree of self association. An important consequence of these studies is a proposal that anthocyanin association allows for colored anthocyanin species to be present in large mole fractions in cell vacuoles despite the fact that the typical vacuolar pH range favors the formation of colorless species.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Ken Cline and David Steingraeber for valuable discussions and Ken Cline for designing and coding programs for spectral analysis and image manipulation and presentation. This work was supported by Grant DMS-1814941 awarded by the U.S. National Science Foundation.

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Author notes

  1. Patrick D. Shipman

    Present address: Department of Mathematics and Graduate Interdisciplinary Program in Applied Mathematics, The University of Arizona, 617 N. Santa Rita Ave., Tucson, AZ, 85721-0089, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mathematics, Colorado State University, 1874 Campus Delivery, Fort Collins, CO, 80523-1874, USA

    Wei-Yu Hsu

  2. Department of Chemistry, Colorado State University, 1872 Campus Delivery, Fort Collins, CO, 80523-1872, USA

    Stephen Thompson

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  1. Wei-Yu Hsu
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  2. Patrick D. Shipman
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Contributions

Experiments were designed and performed by ST. All authors contributed towards designing the model and writing the manuscript. W-YH and PDS performed analysis and numerical simulations of the model.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Patrick D. Shipman.

Additional information

Communicated by Vidyanand Nanjundiah

Corresponding editor: Vidyanand Nanjundiah

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Hsu, WY., Shipman, P.D. & Thompson, S. Molecular transformations and self-association in anthocyanin pigment patterns. J Biosci 49, 4 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12038-023-00367-x

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