Anthocyanins are the major pigments contributing to flower coloration. A 1584 bp 5' upstream sequence of ALCHS2 gene was isolated from Acapulco lily (Lilium Oriental hybrid cv. Acapulco). Computer-based analyses (GeneScan, AtPAN) predicted a CAATBOX1 and putative transcription factor-binding sites, including tissue-specific elements. When gALCHS7 promoter–gus fusion was introduced to petunia ('Dream Red'), all ten putative transgenic plants showed localized GUS activity in the anther, but five of them also showed weak GUS activity in the ovule. No distinctive signal in the leaf and petal was detected in the same stage. To clearly determine the operation of the promotor region, anther and ovule tissues of transgenic line 6 were fixed in paraffin for dark-field analysis. At 1 cm length of floral bud, a GUS signal was not observed in the anther, but weak expression was observed in the ovule. Before anthesis, GUS protein was highly expressed in the pollen, endothecium, and epidermis. Fluorometric GUS assays of individual organs taken from four transgenic plants demonstrated that all lines showed high GUS activity in the anther compared to 35S CaMV promoter (pBI1 121), except line 34. Using the truncated promoters by cis-acting elements, we found that minimal region (gALCHS7-7, 270 bp) displayed GUS expression only in the anther, though at weaker activity than in the original promoter.

In this work, we analyzed the activity of control enzymes of flower color biosynthesis, chalcone synthase (CHS) and flavanone 3-hydroxylase (FHT) using biochemical and enzymological methods in Lilium longiflorum and 11 Lilium cultivars. The results obtained are as follows ; Naringenin (NAR) was synthesized in all Lilium cultivars tested by the catalytic activity of CHS which used malonyl-CoA and 4-coumaryol-CoA as substrates. Substrate-specific activity of CHS was observed because eridictiol (ERI), which uses caffeoyl-CoA as a substrate, was not detected in tested cultivars. In next step, dihydroflavone product was synthesized by FHT using flavanones as a substrate. FHT synthesized dihydrokaempferol (DHK) by using NAR as substrates. A remarkable activity of FHT was observed in other 11 cultivars.