Profiling and quantification of grain anthocyanins in purple pericarp × blue aleurone wheat crosses by high-performance thin-layer chromatography and densitometry

Background Anthocyanins are abundant secondary metabolites responsible for most blue to blue-black, and red to purple colors of various plant organs. In wheat grains, anthocyanins are accumulated in the pericarp and/or aleurone layer. Anthocyanin pigmented wheat grains can be processed into functional foods with potential health benefits due to the antioxidant properties of the anthocyanins. The grain anthocyanin content can be increased by pyramidizing the different genes responsible for the accumulation of anthocyanins in the different grain layers. Our objective was to develop a high-performance thin-layer chromatography (HPTLC) method that allows the determination of both the anthocyanin profile and the total pigment concentration. Thereby, selection of breeding lines with significantly higher grain anthocyanin content from purple pericarp × blue aleurone wheat crosses should become more efficient than selection based on only visual scoring of grain color and the unspecific determination of anthocyanin concentration by UV/Vis spectroscopy. Results A wide variability in the grain anthocyanin content was observed in breeding lines and check varieties. The highest concentration of anthocyanins was observed in deep purple (i.e. combination of the purple pericarp and blue aleurone genetics) grained breeding lines, followed by blue aleurone and purple pericarp genotypes. Determination of the total anthocyanin content was included into the chromatographic analysis, rendering an additional photometric analysis unnecessary. Ten target zones were identified in anthocyanin pigmented wheat grains; four of these zones were typically for blue aleurone types, five for purple pericarp types, and one (i.e. kuromanin glucoside) was characteristic for both. Chemometrics applied to the anthocyanin profile recorded by scanning densitometry revealed that peak heights and peak areas are highly correlated and that seven out of the ten target zones were responsible for about 90% of the total variation in the germplasm. Multivariate analysis of these seven target zones allowed not only a separation of the genetic material into purple, blue and deep purple grained genotypes, but also the identification of genotypes with a specific anthocyanin pattern. Thereby, the original classification by visual scoring was overruled in about one-third of the breeding lines. Conclusions The presented HPTLC method with à côté calibration allowed the profiling of the pigments and quantification of wheat grain anthocyanin content in a single analysis, replacing UV/Vis spectroscopy with subsequent HPLC analysis. Moreover, no sample preparation apart from extraction and filtration is required, and more than 15 samples can be evaluated in one analysis run, corresponding to several dozens of samples per day. Hence, the method fulfills the requirements for screening methods in early generations of a plant breeding program such as high-throughput, small sample size, high repeatability, fast determination, and reasonable costs per sample. Combined with multivariate statistical analysis, the anthocyanin pattern allowed the validation of the genetic background in the offspring of purple × blue wheat crosses and, therefore, the efficient selection of genotypes exhibiting both the cyanidin and delphinidin aglycon.