Three recessive genes are required to give carrots their orange color -- and the beneficial precursor of vitamin A.
A new study of the genetic blueprints of more than 600 types of carrot shows that three specific genes are required to give carrots an orange color. Surprisingly, these three required genes all need to be recessive, or turned off. The paper's findings shed light on the traits important to carrot improvement efforts and could lead to better health benefits from the vegetable.
NC State researchers worked with colleagues from the University of Wisconsin-Madison to sequence 630 carrot genomes in a continuing examination of the history and domestication of the orange carrot; a 2016 study published inby these researchers provided the first carrot genome sequence and uncovered the gene involved in the pigmentation of yellow carrot.
The study also adds further evidence that carrots were domesticated in the 9th or 10th century in western and central Asia."Purple carrots were common in central Asia along with yellow carrots," Iorizzo said."Both were brought to Europe, but yellow carrots were more popular, likely due to their taste."
The color and sweeter flavor of the orange carrot drove its popularity and farmers selected for those traits. Different types of orange carrots were developed in northern Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries, which matches the appearance of different shades of orange carrots in paintings from that era. Orange carrots later grew in popularity as greater understanding of alpha- and beta-carotenes, the precursor of vitamin A in the diet, progressed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
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