Abstract: The relationship of carotenoid content and expression level of LCYE，LCYB1，CHXE and CHXB1 in the α-carotene，β-carotene branches of carrot root and leaf was investigated with carrot wild species Songzi，orange cultivar Amsterdam and their five backcross inbred lines（BILs）with different color. cDNA sequences analysis revealed several SNP of the four genes exist between Songzi and Amsterdam. Amsterdam leaves had higher levels of α-carotene（87.3 ?g ? g-1）than Songzi leaves（2.8 ?g ? g-1），but the content of β-carotene was higher in Songzi（237.9 ?g ? g-1）than in Amsterdam（122.7 ?g ? g-1）. qRT-PCR results showed that LCYE，LCYB1，CHXE and CHXB1 were functional in roots and leaves，and that the expression of LCYE was positively correlated with α-carotene，β-carotene and total carotenoid content in roots，and negatively correlated with lutein and carotenoid content in leaves，which indicated LCYE playing a key role in carotenoids accumulation.

Key words: carrot, carotenoid, accumulation, transcript