Anthocyanin biosynthesis exhibits a rhythmic oscillation pattern in some plants. To investigate the correlation between the oscillatory regulatory network and anthocyanin biosynthesis in pear, the anthocyanin accumulation and the expression patterns of anthocyanin late biosynthetic genes (ALBGs) were investigated in fruit skin of 'Red Zaosu' (Pyrus bretschneideri Rehd.). The anthocyanin accumulated mainly during the night over three continuous days in the fruit skin, and the ALBGs' expression patterns in 'Red Zaosu' fruit skin were oscillatory. However, the expression levels of typical anthocyanin-related transcription factors did not follow this pattern. Here, we found that the expression patterns of four PbREVEILLEs (PbRVEs), members of a class of atypical anthocyanin-regulated MYBs, were consistent with those of ALBGs in 'Red Zaosu' fruit skin over three continuous days. Additionally, transient expression assays indicated that the four PbRVEs promoted anthocyanin biosynthesis by regulating the expression of the anthocyanin biosynthetic genes encoding dihydroflavonol-4-reductase (DFR) and anthocyanidin synthase (ANS) in red pear fruit skin, which was verified using a dual-luciferase reporter assay. Moreover, a yeast one-hybrid assay indicated that PbRVE1a, 1b and 7 directly bound to PbDFR and PbANS promoters. Thus, PbRVEs promote anthocyanin accumulation at night by up-regulating the expression levels of PbDFR and PbANS in 'Red Zaosu' fruit skin.
Keywords: REVEILLEs; anthocyanin accumulation; night; red pear fruit; transient assays.