The molecular regulatory mechanism of strawberry fruit color

The fruit color of octoploid strawberry (Fragaria × ananassa) is closely associated with anthocyanin biosynthesis.
Most octoploid strawberry cultivars (e.g., ‘Sweet Charlie’) produce red fruit and (e.g., ‘Snow Princess’) white fruit with a different anthocyanin accumulated pattern.
Further investigation is needed into the molecular mechanism that causes significant differences in strawberry fruit color.
In this study, expressions of positive regulators (FaMYB1, FaMYB5, FaMYB10) in anthocyanin biosynthesis were significantly upregulated, while that of negative regulators (FaMYB9, FaMYB11) were significantly downregulated in both white and red strawberry cultivars.
PCA and hierarchical partitioning analysis showed the transcript levels characterized by the regulators (FaMYB1, FaMYB10) and structural genes (FaCHS, FaF3H, FaANS, and FaUFGT) had the primary influences on anthocyanin synthesis. FaMYB1 sequences were identical, while FaMYB10 sequences differed in the white and red octoploid strawberry.
We found FaMYB10 alleles, red allele FaMYB10-1, and white allele FaMYB10-2 regulated fruit color in strawberry.
The insertion (ACTTATAC) in the white allele FaMYB10-2 caused a shift in the reading frame resulting premature stop codon.
The introns of the white allele FaMYB10-2 were missing.
Altogether, these results indicate the role of FaMYB10 in the regulation of the anthocyanin biosynthesis determining strawberry fruit coloration.

International Symposium on Biotechnological Tools in Horticulture

Hua Wang, Yuan Yang, Maofu Li, Pei Sun, Jing Dong, Xiangyi Sun, Min Jin, Jie Luo, Xin Liu, Wanmei Jin

octoploid strawberry, fruit color, FaMYB10

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2026.1454.35