Abstract: Anthocyanidins exist in the form of glycosides bound to glucose or fibre disaccharide molecules, and are a class of water-soluble natural pigments that are widely found in fruits, vegetables and flowers in nature. Anthocyanins have physiological activities such as antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-tumour, and virus growth inhibition, thus they have broad application prospects in the food and pharmaceutical fields. Purple corn is an anthocyanin-rich crop, and the study of its anthocyanin biosynthesis pathway is of high practical significance. With the indepth study of anthocyanin synthesis pathway in plants, the anthocyanin biosynthesis pathway has been gradually clarified, but the anthocyanin regulatory genes and the mechanism still have a lot of room for exploration. In recent years, researchers have made great progress in the study of anthocyanin-rich maize, but the precision breeding of anthocyanin-rich maize needs further research. In this paper, we reviewed the anthocyanin biosynthesis pathway, key enzyme genes and regulatory genes of maize, systematically analysed the effects of structural genes in the anthocyanin synthesis pathway of maize as well as regulatory genes, such as MYB, bHLH, WD40, etc., and elaborated on the regulation of anthocyanins by the MBW ternary complex. We also discussed the unresolved issues in breeding anthocyanin-rich maize and the future research direction, with a view to providing reference for future research on the genetic improvement of anthocyanins in maize and the selection of maize varieties with high anthocyanin content.

Key words: anthocyanidin, maize, biosynthesis, metabolic regulation