Betalain production is possible in anthocyanin-producing plant species given the presence of DOPA-dioxygenase and L-DOPA

Table 1 Retention times and spectral maxima of the major betalain pigments detected in beetroot tissue (Peaks 1 to 3) or antirrhinum petal tissue bombarded with 35S: PgDOD and infiltrated with L-DOPA (Peaks 4 and 5).

Peak^a	Betalain	Retention Time (min)	λ_max (nm)
1	Vulgaxanthin I	7.33	259, 469
2	Betanin	21.37	269, 534
3	Isobetanin	24.78	269, 534
4	Unknown betaxanthin	35.97	265, 464
5	Unknown betaxanthin^b	21.02	241, 470

HPLC absorbance traces are shown in Figure 4
^aThe peak present at 5.64 min in antirrhinum tissue was present in all samples, both control and transgenic; its spectral data is not consistent with that of betalain pigments therefore it was excluded from the analysis.
^bPossibly dopaxanthin

ISSN: 1471-2229