Advancing utilization of diverse global carrot ( L.) germplasm with flowering habit trait ontology.

Biennial vegetable crops are challenging to breed due to long breeding cycle times. At the same time, it is important to preserve a strong biennial growth habit, avoiding premature flowering that renders the crop unmarketable. Gene banks carry important genetic variation which may be essential to improve crop resilience, but these collections are underutilized due to lack of characterization for key traits like bolting tendency for biennial vegetable crops.

Evaluation of shoot-growth variation in diverse carrot ( L.) germplasm for genetic improvement of stand establishment.

Carrot ( L.) is a high value, nutritious, and colorful crop, but delivering carrots from seed to table can be a struggle for carrot growers. Weed competitive ability is a critical trait for crop success that carrot and its apiaceous relatives often lack owing to their characteristic slow shoot growth and erratic seedling emergence, even among genetically uniform lines.

Proximate composition and prevalence and exposure assessment of aflatoxins intake through consumption of fresh carrot and processed marketed carrot products in South Punjab, Pakistan.

Carrot ( L.) is a nutrient-rich vegetable that is widely cultivated and consumed in Pakistan in both raw and processed form. Data on the proximate composition and natural occurrence of aflatoxins (AFs) in carrots and marketed carrot products is lacking in Pakistan and the risk exposure of AF has not been characterised before.

Characterization of Purple Carrot Germplasm for Antioxidant Capacity and Root Concentration of Anthocyanins, Phenolics, and Carotenoids.

The present study characterized a genetically and phenotypically diverse collection of 27 purple and two non-purple (one orange and one yellow) carrot accessions for concentration of root anthocyanins, phenolics, and carotenoids, and antioxidant capacity estimated by four different methods (ORAC, DPPH, ABTS, FRAP), in a partially replicated experimental design comprising data from two growing seasons (2018 and 2019). Broad and significant ( < 0.0001) variation was found among the accessions for all the traits.

Anthocyanin and Lycopene Contents Do Not Affect β-Carotene Bioefficacy from Multicolored Carrots (Daucus carota L.) in Male Mongolian Gerbils.

Background: Anthocyanins and carotenoids are phytochemicals that may benefit health through provitamin A carotenoid (PAC), antioxidant, and anti-inflammatory activities. These bioactives may mitigate chronic diseases. Consumption of multiple phytochemicals may impact bioactivity in synergistic or antagonistic manners.

CarrotOmics: a genetics and comparative genomics database for carrot (Daucus carota).

Unlabelled: CarrotOmics (https://carrotomics.org/) is a comprehensive database for carrot (Daucus carota L.) breeding and research.

Physicochemical properties, degradation kinetics, and antioxidant capacity of aqueous anthocyanin-based extracts from purple carrots compared to synthetic and natural food colorants.

As a means to evaluate the potential of carrot anthocyanins as food colorants and nutraceutical agents, we investigated the physicochemical stability and antioxidant capacity of purple carrot extracts under different pH (2.5-7.0) and temperature (4-40 °C) conditions, in comparison to a commercial synthetic (E131) and a natural grape-based (GRP) colorant.

Development of Carrot Nutraceutical Products as an Alternative Supplement for the Prevention of Nutritional Diseases.

Nutraceuticals can serve as an alternative supplement to overcome nutritional deficiency for a healthy lifestyle. They can also play a key role in disease management. To develop carrot nutraceutical products, 64 genotypes from four different continents were evaluated for a range of morpho-nutrition variables.

Genetic characterization of carrot root shape and size using genome-wide association analysis and genomic-estimated breeding values.

The principal phenotypic determinants of market class in carrot-the size and shape of the root-are under primarily additive, but also highly polygenic, genetic control. The size and shape of carrot roots are the primary determinants not only of yield, but also market class. These quantitative phenotypes have historically been challenging to objectively evaluate, and thus subjective visual assessment of market class remains the primary method by which selection for these traits is performed.

Genetic and Transcription Profile Analysis of Tissue-Specific Anthocyanin Pigmentation in Carrot Root Phloem.

In purple carrots, anthocyanin pigmentation can be expressed in the entire root, or it can display tissue specific-patterns. Within the phloem, purple pigmentation can be found in the outer phloem (OP) (also called the cortex) and inner phloem (IP), or it can be confined exclusively to the OP. In this work, the genetic control underlying tissue-specific anthocyanin pigmentation in the carrot root OP and IP tissues was investigated by means of linkage mapping and transcriptome (RNA-seq) and phylogenetic analyses; followed by gene expression (RT-qPCR) evaluations in two genetic backgrounds, an F population (3242) and the inbred B7262.

Mining for Candidate Genes Controlling Secondary Growth of the Carrot Storage Root.

Background: Diverse groups of carrot cultivars have been developed to meet consumer demands and industry needs. Varietal groups of the cultivated carrot are defined based on the shape of roots. However, little is known about the genetic basis of root shape determination.

Overlapping Vitamin A Interventions with Provitamin A Carotenoids and Preformed Vitamin A Cause Excessive Liver Retinol Stores in Male Mongolian Gerbils.

Background: Vitamin A (VA) deficiency is a public health problem in some countries. Fortification, supplementation, and increased provitamin A consumption through biofortification are efficacious, but monitoring is needed due to risk of excessive VA intake when interventions overlap.

Objectives: Two studies in 28-36-d-old male Mongolian gerbils simulated exposure to multiple VA interventions to determine the effects of provitamin A carotenoid consumption from biofortified maize and carrots and preformed VA fortificant on status.

Identification of an SCPL Gene Controlling Anthocyanin Acylation in Carrot ( L.) Root.

Anthocyanins are natural health promoting pigments that can be produced in large quantities in some purple carrot cultivars. Decoration patterns of anthocyanins, such as acylation, can greatly influence their stability and biological properties and use in the food industry as nutraceuticals and natural colorants. Despite recent advances made toward understanding the genetic control of anthocyanin accumulation in purple carrot, the genetic mechanism controlling acylation of anthocyanin in carrot root have not been studied yet.

Dissecting the genetic control of root and leaf tissue-specific anthocyanin pigmentation in carrot (Daucus carota L.).

Inheritance, QTL mapping, phylogenetic, and transcriptome (RNA-Seq) analyses provide insight into the genetic control underlying carrot root and leaf tissue-specific anthocyanin pigmentation and identify candidate genes for root phloem pigmentation. Purple carrots can accumulate large quantities of anthocyanins in their root tissues, as well as in other plant parts. This work investigated the genetic control underlying tissue-specific anthocyanin pigmentation in the carrot root phloem and xylem, and in leaf petioles.

Carrot Leaves Maintain Liver Vitamin A Concentrations in Male Mongolian Gerbils Regardless of the Ratio of α- to β-Carotene When β-Carotene Equivalents Are Equalized.

Background: Carrots are an important horticultural crop that contain provitamin A carotenoids (PACs). Orange carrots have high concentrations of α-carotene, which upon central cleavage yields 1 retinal and 1 α-retinal molecule. The leaves of carrot plants are a source of PACs when consumed.

Total Adipose Retinol Concentrations Are Correlated with Total Liver Retinol Concentrations in Male Mongolian Gerbils, but Only Partially Explained by Chylomicron Deposition Assessed with Total α-Retinol.

Background: Liver vitamin A (VA) concentration is the gold standard for VA status, but is not routinely accessible. Adipose tissue VA concentrations, as retinol and retinyl esters, may be correlated to liver VA. α-VA (as α-retinol) is a cleavage product of α-carotene that traces postprandial VA distribution to tissues but cannot recirculate from hepatic stores, providing insight into tissue VA sources.

A Cluster of Transcription Factors Regulates Anthocyanin Biosynthesis in Carrot ( L.) Root and Petiole.

Purple carrots can accumulate large quantities of anthocyanins in their roots and -in some genetic backgrounds- petioles, and therefore they represent an excellent dietary source of antioxidant phytonutrients. In a previous study, using linkage analysis in a carrot F mapping population segregating for root and petiole anthocyanin pigmentation, we identified a region in chromosome 3 with co-localized QTL for all anthocyanin pigments of the carrot root, whereas petiole pigmentation segregated as a single dominant gene and mapped to one of these "root pigmentation" regions conditioning anthocyanin biosynthesis. In the present study, we performed fine mapping combined with gene expression analyses (RNA-Seq and RT-qPCR) to identify candidate genes controlling anthocyanin pigmentation in the carrot root and petiole.

An Automated Image Analysis Pipeline Enables Genetic Studies of Shoot and Root Morphology in Carrot ( L.).

Carrot is a globally important crop, yet efficient and accurate methods for quantifying its most important agronomic traits are lacking. To address this problem, we developed an automated image analysis platform that extracts components of size and shape for carrot shoots and roots, which are necessary to advance carrot breeding and genetics. This method reliably measured variation in shoot size and shape, petiole number, petiole length, and petiole width as evidenced by high correlations with hundreds of manual measurements.

Carotenoid Presence Is Associated with the Gene in Domesticated Carrot.

Carrots are among the richest sources of provitamin A carotenes in the human diet, but genetic variation in the carotenoid pathway does not fully explain the high levels of carotenoids in carrot roots. Using a diverse collection of modern and historic domesticated varieties, and wild carrot accessions, an association analysis for orange pigmentation revealed a significant genomic region that contains the gene, advancing it as a candidate for carotenoid presence in carrot. Analysis of sequence variation at the locus revealed a nonsynonymous mutation cosegregating with carotenoid content.

Dissecting the Genetic Architecture of Shoot Growth in Carrot ( L.) Using a Diallel Mating Design.

Crop establishment in carrot ( L.) is limited by slow seedling growth and delayed canopy closure, resulting in high management costs for weed control. Varieties with improved growth habit (, larger canopy and increased shoot biomass) may help mitigate weed control, but the underlying genetics of these traits in carrot is unknown.

Characterization of a Genomic Region under Selection in Cultivated Carrot ( subsp. ) Reveals a Candidate Domestication Gene.

Carrot is one of the most important vegetables worldwide, owing to its capability to develop fleshy, highly nutritious storage roots. It was domesticated ca. 1,100 years ago in Central Asia.

Genotyping-by-sequencing provides the discriminating power to investigate the subspecies of Daucus carota (Apiaceae).

Background: The majority of the subspecies of Daucus carota have not yet been discriminated clearly by various molecular or morphological methods and hence their phylogeny and classification remains unresolved. Recent studies using 94 nuclear orthologs and morphological characters, and studies employing other molecular approaches were unable to distinguish clearly many of the subspecies. Fertile intercrosses among traditionally recognized subspecies are well documented.

Patterns of Gene Flow between Crop and Wild Carrot, Daucus carota (Apiaceae) in the United States.

Studies of gene flow between crops and their wild relatives have implications for both management practices for cultivation and understanding the risk of transgene escape. These types of studies may also yield insight into population dynamics and the evolutionary consequences of gene flow for wild relatives of crop species. Moreover, the comparison of genetic markers with different modes of inheritance, or transmission, such as those of the nuclear and chloroplast genomes, can inform the relative risk of transgene escape via pollen versus seed.

SHORT HYPOCOTYL1 Encodes a SMARCA3-Like Chromatin Remodeling Factor Regulating Elongation.

In Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana), the UVR8-mediated signaling pathway is employed to attain UVB protection and acclimation to deal with low-dosage UVB (LDUVB)-induced stresses. Here, we identified SHORT HYPOCOTYL1 (SH1) in cucumber (Cucumis sativus), which regulates LDUVB-dependent hypocotyl elongation by modulating the UVR8 signaling pathway. We showed that hypocotyl elongation in cucumbers carrying the recessive sh1 allele was LDUVB insensitive and that Sh1 encoded a human SMARCA3-like chromatin remodeling factor.

Application of genomics-assisted breeding for generation of climate resilient crops: progress and prospects.

Climate change affects agricultural productivity worldwide. Increased prices of food commodities are the initial indication of drastic edible yield loss, which is expected to increase further due to global warming. This situation has compelled plant scientists to develop climate change-resilient crops, which can withstand broad-spectrum stresses such as drought, heat, cold, salinity, flood, submergence and pests, thus helping to deliver increased productivity.