How carrots became orange: genomics get at the root of the matter

胡蘿卜如何變成橙色：基因組學找到問題的根源

The vegetable was domesticated roughly 1,200 years ago but was yellow or purple for centuries.

這種蔬菜大約在1200年前被馴化，但幾個世紀以來一直是黃色或紫色的。 An analysis of 630 carrot genomes from around the world has revealed three genes that give the vegetable its orange hue and nutritional heft. 一項對來自世界各地的630種胡蘿卜基因組的分析揭示了三種基因賦予這種蔬菜橙色色調(diào)和營養(yǎng)價值。 Both traits are due to pigments called carotenoids, which are precursors to vitamin A and are abundant in the carrot’s taproot. Kevin Coe at North Carolina State University in Kannapolis and his colleagues traced the colourful history of the modern carrot by analysing hundreds of carrot genomes, including 95 wild relatives. 這兩種特性都是由于一種叫做類胡蘿卜素的色素，它是維生素A的前體，在胡蘿卜的主根中含量豐富。位于卡納波利斯的北卡羅萊納州立大學的凱文·科和他的同事們通過分析包括95個野生親緣品種在內(nèi)的數(shù)百個胡蘿卜基因組，追溯了現(xiàn)代胡蘿卜豐富多彩的歷史。 The data, combined with historical records, indicate that carrots were domesticated in Asia between the ninth and tenth centuries?AD. Hundreds of years later, the orange colour was selected for — probably in a yellow ancestor — in western Europe. 這些數(shù)據(jù)與歷史記錄相結(jié)合，表明胡蘿卜在公元9世紀到10世紀之間在亞洲被馴化。幾百年后，在西歐，橙色可能是黃色祖先的顏色。 Over the centuries, humans have left their imprint throughout the carrot genome. For example, flowering renders the carrot taproot woody and inedible, so breeders have selected for several genes that delay flowering time. They also selected for three genes that cause carotenoid accumulation, contributing to the vegetable’s vivid colour and nutritional value. 幾個世紀以來，人類在胡蘿卜基因組中留下了印記。例如，開花使胡蘿卜的主根木質(zhì)化，不能食用，因此育種者選擇了幾種延遲開花時間的基因。他們還選擇了三種導致類胡蘿卜素積累的基因，這些基因有助于蔬菜的鮮艷顏色和營養(yǎng)價值。

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-03035-0

文章來源nature