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Carrot Domestication

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The Carrot Genome

Part of the book series: Compendium of Plant Genomes ((CPG))

Abstract

The domestication syndrome of carrot (Daucus carota subsp. sativus) includes increased carotenoid, anthocyanin, and sugar content, loss of lateral root branching, biennial growth habit, and increased size and variation of root shape. Recent advances in high-throughput sequencing and computational techniques have facilitated new ways to study the genetic and genomic changes that accompany plant domestication. While most genetic studies now support a central Asian center of domestication for carrot much remains unknown regarding the genetic mechanisms that contribute to phenotypic changes associated with domestication. Most research to study the genetics of plant domestication uses a top-down approach, which begins with a phenotype of interest and then identifies causative genomic regions via genetic analyses such as quantitative trait locus (QTL) and linkage disequilibrium (LD) mapping. An alternative approach is to start by identifying genes or genomic regions with signatures of selection and then make use of genetic tools to identify the phenotypes to which these genes contribute, also referred to as a bottom-up approach. In this chapter, we present a thorough review of genetic and genomic studies that have used both top-down and bottom-up approaches to study the domestication syndrome of carrot.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. USDA-Agricultural Research Service, Vegetable Crops Research Unit, 1575 Linden Dr., 53706, Madison, WI, USA

    Shelby Ellison

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  1. Shelby Ellison
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Correspondence to Shelby Ellison .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Vegetable Crops Research Unit, USDA-ARS, Madison, WI, USA

    Philipp Simon

  2. Plants for Human Health Institute, North Carolina State University , Kannapolis, NC, USA

    Massimo Iorizzo

  3. University of Agriculture in Krakow, Krakow, Poland

    Dariusz Grzebelus

  4. Faculty of Biotechnology and Horticulture, University of Agriculture in Krakow, Krakow, Poland

    Rafal Baranski

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Ellison, S. (2019). Carrot Domestication. In: Simon, P., Iorizzo, M., Grzebelus, D., Baranski, R. (eds) The Carrot Genome. Compendium of Plant Genomes. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-03389-7_5

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