Abstract: In order to study the influence of light on anthocyanin synthesis and metabolism of purple cabbage and the mechanism of regulation in purple cabbage, “Early Red” purple cabbage was used as the test material, and cabbage “Feng Yuan 913” (green cabbage) was used as the control. Seedlings were planted under light or dark condition for one week, and then the anthocyanin content was determined by using the pH differential spectrum method at pH 1.0 and pH 4.5. Subsequently, semi-quantitative RT-PCR was performed to analyze the expression pattern of structural genes involved in anthocyanin biosynthesis. The results showed that no significant difference was observed in expression level of structural genes involved in anthocyanin biosynthesis in purple cabbage after treated by light or dark except for PAL and UFGT. In addition, purple cabbage seedlings were still colored obviously even grew in the dark, but the young seedlings of green cabbage turned up albefaction completely. The expression levels of downstream structural genes in anthocyanin synthesis pathway were significantly increased in purple cabbage compared with those of green cabbage. At the same time, young seedlings were colored deeply, indicating that mass anthocyanin in purple cabbage was correlated with high expression of these genes.

Key words: light, purple cabbage, green cabbage, anthocyanin synthesis and metabolism, gene expression