p-Hydroxybenzoyl-glucose is a zwitter donor for the biosynthesis of 7-polyacylated anthocyanin in Delphinium.

The blue color of delphinium (Delphinium grandiflorum) flowers is produced by two 7-polyacylated anthocyanins, violdelphin and cyanodelphin. Violdelphin is derived from the chromophore delphinidin that has been modified at the 7-position by Glc and p-hydroxybenzoic acid (pHBA) molecules. Modification of violdelphin by linear conjugation of Glc and pHBA molecules to a Glc moiety at the 7-position produces cyanodelphin. We recently showed that anthocyanin 7-O-glucosylation in delphinium is catalyzed by the acyl-Glc-dependent anthocyanin glucosyltransferase (AAGT). Here, we sought to answer the question of which enzyme activities are necessary for catalyzing the transfer of Glc and pHBA moieties to 7-glucosylated anthocyanin. We found that these transfers were catalyzed by enzymes that use p-hydroxybenzoyl-Glc (pHBG) as a bifunctional acyl and glucosyl donor. In addition, we determined that violdelphin is synthesized via step-by-step enzymatic reactions catalyzed by two enzymes that use pHBG as an acyl or glucosyl donor. We also isolated a cDNA encoding a protein that has the potential for p-hydroxybenzoylation activity and two AAGT cDNAs that encode a protein capable of adding Glc to delphinidin 3-O-rutinoside-7-O-(6-O-[p-hydroxybenzoyl]-glucoside) to form violdelphin.