Quantification of Anthocyanin Content

Anthocyanins are a class of flavonoids and important plant pigments. They attract insects to pollinate flowers, protect plants from UV irradiation, and act as antimicrobial agents against herbivores and pathogens. Biosynthesis of anthocyanin is stimulated by diverse developmental signals and environmental stresses including drought, wounding, pathogen infection and insect attack. Plant hormones such as jasmonates, a stress-related plant hormone, also induce accumulation of anthocyanins. Sensitivity of plants to these stress stimuli can be measured by accumulation of anthocyanins. Here we describe a simple method for measurement of anthocyanins in Arabidopsis thaliana seedlings. Amount of anthocyanins are calculated only from absorbances at 530 and 657 nm of crude extract.