May/June 2021 - 24

GLOBAL PERSPECTIVES
Wild potato relatives
help fight late blight
Efforts to implement resistant genes span the globe
By Melanie Epp
CONTRIBUTING WRITER
L
ate blight, caused by Phytophthora
infestans, is one of the most
threatening pathogenic diseases
in potatoes. It is estimated that losses
due to late blight cost global potato
farmers an estimated $6.7 billion
annually. Globally, scientists believe
wild potato relatives hold the key to
unlocking new sources of resistance.
In the United Kingdom, U.S. and subSahara
Africa, scientists integrate
resistance genes from wild relatives into
regionally popular varieties, which help
to increase uptake.
UK RESEARCHERS IDENTIFY
NEW SOURCE OF RESISTANCE
Phytophthora infestans is a tricky
pathogen. It has an uncanny ability to
mutate into new variants, and oftentimes
those variants easily overcome the genes
that are there to protect the potato
variety against infection. Moreover,
single resistance genes have limited
resistance to the range of pathogen
variants, which means they can also be
overcome quite quickly.
Researcher Jonathan Jones and his
team at the Sainsbury Laboratory, an
independent research institute in the
UK, found a new source of resistance
while exploring a range of wild Solanum
plants related to potato. An ancestor of
a wild variety widely found in the UK,
Solanum americanum, contains the
resistant gene Rpi-amr1 and its many
variants. Interestingly, despite the fact
that each Rpi-amr1 variant's sequence
differs by as much as 10%, they all enable
detection of the two virulence proteins
associated with late blight. In fact,
Rpi-amr1 confers resistance against all
tested 19 blight strains.
Jones and his colleagues have
combined the Rpi-amr1 resistance gene
with two other resistance genes (Rpiamr3
and Rpi-vnt1) in the commercially
popular variety Maris Piper. The
resulting lines show immunity to a wide
variety of blight races. Jones is thrilled
to finally see the team's work in print,
calling the new gene " one of the best
resistance genes in our armoury against
late blight. "
ARS RESEARCHERS TEST
WILD POTATO SPECIES FOR
LATE BLIGHT RESISTANCE
A team of Agricultural Research
Service (ARS) scientists evaluated wild
potato ancestors in a search for new
sources of resistance to late blight. In
laboratory trials, the scientists exposed
the leaves of 72 wild potato species to
late blight pathogen spores. Led by ARS
Vegetable Crops Research Unit plant
geneticist Dennis Halterman, and in
collaboration with ARS scientist Shelley
Jansky and ARS research associate Hari
Karki, the aim of the research project
was to identify new sources of resistance
that could be used to bolster innate
control against the virulent pathogen
that causes late blight. Halterman
said that once identified, the goal is to
24
Spudman.com

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May/June 2021

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