| Summary: | Carotenoids are involved in the formation of plant leaf color as well as photosystem photoprotection. This study showed that blue light significantly induced up-regulation of the total carotenoid content in the inner leaves of orange-head Chinese cabbage (OHCC). Furthermore, the transcriptomic analysis revealed that blue light treatment induced up-regulation of genes in photosynthesis (BrHY5-2, BrCOP1 and BrDET1) and the methylerythritol 4-phosphate pathways (BrGGPS, BrDXS and BrHDR) upstream of the carotenoid metabolic pathway. Carotenoid metabolomic analysis revealed that the accumulation of several orange and red carotenoids (lycopene, zeaxanthin, β-carotene, lutein, and β-cryptoxanthin) after blue light treatment contributed to the deepening of the leaf coloration, suggesting that short-term blue light treatment could be used to boost nutritional quality. The light signal gene BrHY5-2 participated in the blue light-induced transcriptional regulation of carotenoid biosynthesis in OHCC. Overexpression of BrHY5-2 in Arabidopsis significantly increased the total carotenoid content and the sensitivity to blue light. The above findings revealed new insights about blue-light-induced carotenoid synthesis and accumulation in OHCC lines. They suggested a new engineering approach to increase the nutritional value of vegetables.
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