Tuber metabolic profiling of resistant and susceptible potato varieties challenged with Phytophthora infestans

Selection of disease resistant potato varieties for conventional breeders is a time consuming and labor intensive process and most of the times lead to the results that are spatiotemporally inconsistent. Metabolic phenotyping was employed to develop metabolic criteria that can be used to distinguish potato genotypes with disease resistance. Tubers of potato varieties (Caesar and AC Novachip) moderately resistant and susceptible to Phytophthora infestans were inoculated with pathogen or water, and metabolites were analyzed using Gas Chromatography-mass Spectrometry (GS/MS). Disease severity was measured as the volume of diseased tissue calculated based on lesions volume at 2-day intervals after inoculation. Disease severity was 4.17 and 0.61 cm³ for varieties Caesar and AC Novachip respectively. Seventy seven metabolites were tentatively identified using Automated Mass spectral Deconvolution and Identification System (AMDIS) and univariate ANOVA showed that 37 metabolites had significant treatment effects with nine identified as resistance related and five as constitutive metabolites. Four metabolites, constitutive or induced showed significant increase in their abundance in pathogen inoculated tubers. A total of 21 metabolites were considered as pathogenesis related which showed changes in abundance after pathogen challenge. A canonical discriminant analysis of the 37 metabolites identified metabolic phenotypes correlating to disease severity phenotypes. The metabolites were mainly from sugars, fatty acids, and phenolic compounds which of some may have potential antimicrobial activity. Among resistance related metabolites, the abundances of 1H-Indole-3-acetonitrile, trihydroxybutyrate, D-Mannitol, dihydocoumarin, and propanoate were significantly higher in Caesar. The potential application of metabolic profiling technology for high throughput screening of potato breeding lines against potato late blight is discussed.