Molecular cloning and characterization of a flavonoid 3'-hydroxylase gene from purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea)

Echinacea purpurea L. is one of the most important medicinal plants which is widely grown as flowering potted or garden plants in many countries. However, variation in flower color is somewhat limited in the cultivars. Anthocyanin is responsible for pro-ducing many floral colors in the visible spectrum. Therefore, understanding the genetic networks of flower coloration to broaden our understanding of anthocyanin biosynthesis pathways in E. purpurea is of great significance. In our study, we studied the expression patterns of EpF3'H , the phylogenetic tree, the multi-alignment of deduced amino acid sequences and 35S::EpF3'H in Arabidopsis tt7 mutants. The 35S::EpF3'H exhibited apparent phenotypic alterations to restored the ability of the Arabidopsis tt7 mutants, suggesting that the EpF3'H participated in anthocyanin synthesis. This study lay a foundation for understanding the anthocyanin biosynthesis pathways in E. purpurea.