Gene Editing Makes Purple Carrots

Researchers developed a solid purple carrot cultivar, ‘Deep Purple' (‘DPP'), with orange taproots by successfully knocking out DcGST1, a gene strongly linked to anthocyanin pigmentation in carrot taproots.

Anthocyanins are pigments that may appear red, purple, blue, or black depending on the pH level. The color of purple carrot taproots is highly dependent on the anthocyanins. Through the CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing technique, the researchers produced a purple carrot cultivar with orange taproots.

Results of the study show that the co-expression of DcGST1 and DcMYB7 significantly increased the anthocyanin accumulation in carrot calli. The findings of the study accelerate the understanding of anthocyanin transport mechanisms in plants and aid the improvement of carrot varieties in the future.

For more information, read the abstract from The Plant Journal.