Inheritance of tissue-specific anthocyanin pigmentation in carrot roots and leaves

BANNOUD, F.; SIMON, P. W.; CAVAGNARO, P. F.

Congreso; XLIII Congreso Argentino de Genética; 2014

Purple carrots can accumulate large amounts of anthocyanins in theirroots. Carrot anthocyanin pigmentation across different root and leaf tissuesis genetically conditioned. The present study evaluated tissue-specificanthocyanin pigmentation, evaluated as presence or absence of purple, in theroot and leaves of two carrot segregating populations, an F2 (N=253)and an F3 (N=103), both derived from a purple x orange carrot cross.In both populations, purple pigmentation in the root epidermis and phloemsegregated as a simply inherited trait with dominance of purple over non-purple(÷2=0.88-2.73,p= 0.10-0.35), whereas segregation for xylem pigmentation was consistent with a2 gene model (÷2=0.06-2.02,p= 0.16-0.80). Purple pigmentation in the leaf petioles of both families segregatedconsistent with a 2 gene model (÷2=0.13-0.62, P=0.29-0.43), as well as pigmentation of the leaf lamina in the F2 (÷2=0.004,P=0.95) (this trait could not be scored unambiguously in the F3). Strongpositive correlations were found for anthocyanin pigmentation between root epidermisand phloem (r=1 p<0.001) and between root xylem leaf petioles (r=0.58-0.88p<0.001), suggesting that the same genes may condition anthocyaninpigmentation in different plant tissues. Progeny testing in derivative families of these populations are neededto confirm the genetic models proposed from our preliminary data. Understandingthe genetic control of anthocyanin accumulation in specific tissues of carrotwill likely benefit breeding programs aiming at increasing carrot anthocyanincontent and nutraceutical value.