Rice, one of the world’s three major food crops, is expanding its value beyond being a basic carbohydrate source as a functional food resource, providing various bioactive compounds. Colored rice, in particular, contains high levels of phenolic comp...
Rice, one of the world’s three major food crops, is expanding its value beyond being a basic carbohydrate source as a functional food resource, providing various bioactive compounds. Colored rice, in particular, contains high levels of phenolic compounds, including anthocyanidins, which are pigments that determine seed coat color and possess potent antioxidant activity. However, comparative analyses of phenolic metabolites across seed tissues and flavonoids beyond anthocyanidins remain limited. This study analyzed phenolic metabolite profiles in the yellowish pericarp embryo lethal (yel) mutant rice, which accumulate excessive C-glycosylated flavones as a result of loss-of-function mutations in CONSTITUTIVELY PHOTOMORPHOGENIC 1 (COP1) or DE-ETIOLATED 1 (DET1), and in a double mutant deficient in C-glycosyltransferase (CGT) function, from the rice cultivars Chucheong, Hwacheong, Samkwang, and Sindongjin. As a result, C-glycosyl flavone, such as isoorientin, which was significantly increased in yel mutant rice compared to the wild type, decreased again in the double mutant. In addition, the embryo tissue of all mutant rice samples showed higher accumulation of phenolic compounds than the endosperm. These compositional and quantitative changes were consistently observed in all four cultivars. Interestingly, despite both mutants exhibiting yellow or purple pericarp color, anthocyanidin compounds were not detected. This study is expected to provide key information for developing next-generation rice varieties with enhanced functional components by elucidating in detail the effects of OsCOP1, OsDET1, and OsCGT on flavonoid biosynthesis in rice across different tissues.