Anthocyanins, a kind of glycoside, which are synthesized by anthocyanidin and monosaccharide, are known as the value of nutrition and health care for high antioxidant activity. Potato anthocyanins are widely distributed in its skin, flesh, stolons, flowers, roots, stems and leaves and mainly present in the vacuole of cel s. Extensive study revealed that there were difference about types and contents of anthocyanidins and there were six kinds of anthocyanidins in potato tuber, namely pelargonidin, cyanidin, peonidin, delphinidin, malvidin and petunidin. The genes which regulate the anthocyanin biosynthesis general y fel into two groups:the first group is the structural genes coding for the enzymes in the anthocyanin biosynthetic pathway;the second group is the regulatory genes encoding transcription factors which control the expression of structural genes and affect the temporal and spatial accumulation of pigment. In this review, anthocyanin biosynthesis, cDNA cloning, functions expres