Natural populations of wild potato species are the backups for the diversity held in genebanks for research and breeding. Some potato species are known to grow in close proximity to cultivated fields, thus are potentially impacted by human activity, including exposure to pesticides. The present study tested the effects of a common pesticide on reproductive traits of potatoes known to grow in or near pesticide-treated fields in central Peru. Furadan? 4F, an insecticide— nematicide (common name = carbofuran) was applied at two different rates to populations representing 15 wild potato species in a greenhouse environment in Peru. Flowering duration of these populations was usually significantly reduced in comparison to a water control, and in a few cases, percent viable pollen also was. These findings suggest that agrichemicals may be having unintentional effects on wild potato populations in ways that could compromise their genetic diversity.

Potato Leaf Roll Virus is the most prevalent viral disease in the world and causes significant losses in potato crop. PLRV is phloem limited with lower concentration and its detection requires reliable and sensitive techniques. Potato leaf samples showed virus like symptoms were collected from Rawalpindi and Islamabad. A set of primer was designed from coat protein (CP) gene region. RNA extracted from DAS-ELISA confirmed samples were used as a template in Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR). 626 by fragment was amplified which corresponding to the CP gene of PLRV. Pakistani isolates showed maximum genetic similarity (100%) and minimum genetic diversity (0.00%) with Iranian isolates of PLRV. This study is the initial step towards developing resistance strategies in potato crop.

Information about identification, genetic diversity and relationships between potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) genotypes is important for conservation, breeding programs and utilization of genetic resources of this species. With the objective of evaluating the efficiency of morphological characters and RAPD and ISSR markers to discriminate potato genotypes, 15 potato cultivars grown in México were characterized. Morphological characters included both 12 quantitative and three qualitative characters which were scored based on a nominal scale. Both markers demonstrated genetic diversity among the potato cultivars and differentiated between them. However, the Mantel test showed low correlation between the morphological similarity matrix and the molecular one. Molecular markers completely discriminated between all 15 cultivars, while morphological markers were unable to discriminate among some cultivars. In order to improve efficiency of the genetic breeding programs, it is important to select lines based on genetic diversity and agro-morphological parameters, assisted with molecular markers. | La información sobre identificación, diversidad genética y relaciones entre genotipos de papa (Solanum tuberosum L.) es de importancia para su conservación eficiente, mejoramiento genético y utilización de los recursos genéticos de esta especie. Por tanto, con el objetivo de evaluar la eficiencia de los caracteres morfológicos y marcadores tipo RAPD e ISSR para discriminar genotipos de papa, se caracterizaron 15 variedades de papa cultivadas en México. Se evaluaron 12 caracteres cuantitativos y tres cualitativos transformados a una escala nominal. Ambos marcadores detectaron diversidad genética entre variedades y las diferenciaron, pero la prueba de Mantel mostró baja correlación entre la matriz de similitud morfológica y la molecular. Los marcadores moleculares discriminaron completamente a los 15 cultivares analizados, mientras que los marcadores morfológicos fueron incapaces de discriminar algunos de ellos. Para que los programas de mejoramiento sean eficientes es importante seleccionar líneas con base en su diversidad genética y parámetros agro-morfológicos, asistidos con marcadores moleculares.

Natural populations of wild potato species are the backups for the diversity held in genebanks for research and breeding. Some potato species are known to grow in close proximity to cultivated fields, thus are potentially impacted by human activity, including exposure to pesticides. The present study tested the effects of a common pesticide on reproductive traits of potatoes known to grow in or near pesticide-treated fields in central Peru. Furadan® 4F, an insecticide—nematicide (common name = carbofuran) was applied at two different rates to populations representing 15 wild potato species in a greenhouse environment in Peru. Flowering duration of these populations was usually significantly reduced in comparison to a water control, and in a few cases, percent viable pollen also was. These findings suggest that agrichemicals may be having unintentional effects on wild potato populations in ways that could compromise their genetic diversity.

Zhu XC, Wu HW, Raman H, Lemerle D, Stanton R & Burrows GE (2012). Evaluation of simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers from Solanum crop species for Solanum elaeagnifolium. Weed Research52, 217–223. SUMMARY: Molecular markers specific for Solanum elaeagnifolium (silverleaf nightshade) are currently not available. A total of 35 simple sequence repeat (SSR) primer pairs from potato (Solanum tuberosum), tomato (S. lycopersicum) and eggplant (S. melongena) were tested for cross‐species transferability in S. elaeagnifolium. Among them, 13 primer pairs successfully produced alleles (bands). The polymorphism information content ranged from 0 to 0.84. The transferable rate of SSR from potato, tomato and eggplant to S. elaeagnifolium was 20%, 40% and 46% respectively. SSR analysis revealed high level of genetic diversity among 40 individuals collected within a paddock. Highly polymorphic and transferable cross‐species SSR markers would be useful for determining the extent of genetic diversity in S. elaeagnifolium populations.

Potato virus S is the member of genus Carlavirus and is an important virus which infects potato crop. Symptomatic potato samples were collected from the potato fields at NARC and DAS-ELISA was performed to access the PVS infection. The overall infection of PVS was 22.25% during the year 2010-12. Nicotiana debneyi was inoculated with PVS showed symptom of mottling which was further confirmed by DAS-ELISA. Potato carrying the local isolate of PVS was used to isolate RNA and reverse transcribed the coat protein gene. Amplified band of 0.8 kb above was observed on agarose gel. Phylogenetic analysis of obtained sequence with available sequences of PVS coat protein gene showed that Pakistani isolate PK-PVS fell in sub cluster IV and had maximum similarity (99.997%) with Indian isolate. This genetic similarity is due to the presence of both the isolates in same sub cluster and shared maximum nucleotide homology. The reason for low genetic diversity between PK-PVS and Indian isolates was attributed to high conserved sequence of CP gene in genome of PVS. The availability of sequence information for the coat protein gene is essential for improving potato crop by introducing resistance via established gene transformation strategies.

Wild potato germplasm represents a unique, diverse and accessible resource for disease and pest resistance, along with useful agronomic traits that may be introgressed into the cultivated potato (Solanum tuberosum L.). Hybridization of diploid wild Solanum species with haploids (2×) of cultivated potato (4×) is generally an effective technique for introducing genetic diversity and desirable traits into potato. However, in this study, hybridization barriers were found in crosses between S. tuberosum haploids and the wild species S. raphanifolium. Male sterility, likely due to nuclear-cytoplasmic interactions, was observed in some haploid tbr × S. raphanifolium hybrids. In addition, pollen-pistil incompatibilities were observed in backcross, F2, and reciprocal cross hybridization attempts that failed to produce seed. More crosses were successful when F1 clones were crossed as females to wild clones than to cultivated clones. When crosses were made in the other direction, with F1 hybrids used as male parents, seeds were almost never produced.

Wild potato germplasm represents a unique, diverse and accessible resource for disease and pest resistance, along with useful agronomic traits that may be introgressed into the cultivated potato (Solanum tuberosum L.). Hybridization of diploid wild Solanum species with haploids (2x) of cultivated potato (4x) is generally an effective technique for introducing genetic diversity and desirable traits into potato. However, in this study, hybridization barriers were found in crosses between S. tuberosum haploids and the wild species S. raphanifolium. Male sterility, likely due to nuclear-cytoplasmic interactions, was observed in some haploid tbr x S. raphanifolium hybrids. In addition, pollen-pistil incompatibilities were observed in backcross, F2, and reciprocal cross hybridization attempts that failed to produce seed. More crosses were successful when F1 clones were crossed as females to wild clones than to cultivated clones. When crosses were made in the other direction, with F1 hybrids used as male parents, seeds were almost never produced.