We developed a Diversity Arrays Technology (DArT) platform for wild and cultivated carrot and used it to investigate genetic diversity and to develop a saturated genetic linkage map of carrot. We analyzed a set of 900 DArT markers in a collection of plant materials comprising 94 cultivated and 65 wild carrot accessions. The accessions were attributed to three separate groups: wild, Eastern cultivated and Western cultivated.
Cultivated carrot and its wild ancestor co-occur in most temperate regions of the world and can easily hybridize. The genetic basis of the process of domestication in carrot is not well understood. Recent results of an investigation on genetic diversity structure of cultivated and wild carrot and signatures for domestication using DIversity Arrays Technology (DArT) allowed identification of polymorphisms differentiating wild and cultivated accessions.