The unique origin of orange carrot cultivars in China

• Published in: Euphytica 2016-11, Vol.212 (1), p.37-49
• Main Authors: Ma, Zhen-Guo, Kong, Xiao-Ping, Liu, Li-Jie, Ou, Cheng-Gang, Sun, Ting-Ting, Zhao, Zhi-Wei, Miao, Zeng-Jian, Rong, Jun, Zhuang, Fei-Yun
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biotechnology; Carrots; Cultivars; Daucus; Fruits; Genetic markers; Life Sciences; Morphology; Phylogenetics; Phylogeny; Plant Genetics and Genomics; Plant Pathology; Plant Physiology; Plant Sciences; Selective breeding; Vegetables
• ISSN: 0014-2336; 1573-5060
• DOI: 10.1007/s10681-016-1753-8

Cultivated carrots can be divided into eastern and western types. Much evidence supports the idea that eastern carrots originated in Central Asia, while varying opinions exist on the origin of western carrots, especially orange varieties, and the origin of Chinese orange carrots remains unclear. In this study, we used 119 carrot accessions to investigate the relationship between Chinese carrots and western orange varieties (Western orange) using morphology and simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers. The results demonstrate that Chinese carrots are eastern-type and maintain the primitive traits of strong and pubescent leaves, and early flowering. Despite being morphologically similar, the STRUCTURE and phylogenetic analysis based on SSR markers indicated that Western orange were clearly separated from Chinese carrots. These findings, in conjunction with historical documents suggesting that the first Chinese carrots seem to be yellow, suggest that Chinese orange were derived from Chinese red according to the mixed distribution of red and orange accessions. These results suggest that Chinese orange carrots may have undergone a specific, independent process different from that of Western orange.