Naturally Occurring Anthocyanin, Structure, Functions and Biosynthetic Pathway in Fruit Plants

Anthocyanins are naturally occurring compounds, member of the flavonoid groups of photochemical, involved in defense against the damaging effects of UV irradiation in plants and protect from many oxidants. The anthocyanins, group of pigments are relatively small and diverse flavonoid family in nature, and responsible for the attractive colors, red and purple to blue in many plants. Presence of pigments in flowers and fruits seems to provide attraction for pollination and aiding seed distribution, it also provides antiviral and antimicrobial activities, however their occurrence in the vacuoles remains ambiguous. During the last decades, anthocyanin gene expression and many structural genes encoding enzymes has been extensively studied in fruits, flowers and leaves in many plants. In addition, the genetic regulating mechanism, their biosynthesis and other factors involved are well described. The biosynthesis pathway of anthocyanin is a complex with diverse branches responsible to produce variety of metabolites. In general Anthocyanins, production through the flavonoid path, are a class of vital phenolic compounds. Over six thousand diverse anthocyanins have been reported from various species. So far, the potential health benefits of anthocyanins have been reported in the contexts of their antioxidant properties. Anthocyanins are also extensively studied for their several positive effects on body. Based on these facts, the present review briefly summarizes recent advances, highlighting the importance of biosynthetic pathway of anthocyanins, thus will serve to encourage advance investigation in this field.