Common scab of potato is a superficial tuber disease caused by Streptomyces species that produce the phytotoxin thaxtomin. Because common scab development is highly dependent on the effects of this single toxin, the current operating paradigm in common scab pathology is that a potato cultivar resistant to one strain of the common scab pathogen is resistant to all strains. However, cultivar resistance to common scab disease identified in one breeding program is often not durable when tested in other potato breeding programs across the United States. We infected 55 potato cultivar populations with three distinct species of the common scab pathogen and identified cultivars that were resistant or susceptible to all three species and cultivars that had widely varying resistance dependent on the pathogen species. Overall lower virulence was associated with the strain that produces the least thaxtomin. This result showcases several cultivars of potato that are expected to be resistant to the majority of common scab populations but also highlights that many potato cultivars are resistant to only specific species of the pathogen. These results demonstrate that extension specialists and growers must consider their local population of the common scab pathogen when selecting which cultivars to plant for common scab resistance.

Verticillium wilt caused by Verticillium spp., also called potato early dying disease, is one of the most serious soilborne diseases affecting potato production in China. The disease has been expanding into most potato production areas over the past few years. Information on host resistance against Verticillium wilt among the potato cultivars in China is scarce, but it is critical for sustainable management of the disease. This study, therefore, evaluated 30 commercially popular potato cultivars against Verticillium dahliae strain Vdp83 and Verticillium nonalfalfae strain Vnp24, two well-characterized strains causing Verticillium wilt of potato in China. Both strains were isolated from diseased potato plants, and they were previously proven to be highly virulent. Ten plants of each cultivar were inoculated with the V. dahliae strain and incubated on greenhouse benches. Symptoms were rated at weekly intervals, and the relative area under the disease progress curve was calculated. The experiment was repeated once, and nonparametric analysis was used to calculate the relative marginal effects and the corresponding confidence intervals. Five resistant cultivars and four susceptible cultivars identified from the analyses were then challenged with the V. nonalfalfae strain. Cultivar responses to V. nonalfalfae were like those exhibited against V. dahliae, except for one cultivar. This study showed that resistance among potato cultivars exists in China against Verticillium spp. and that the resistance to V. dahliae identified in potato is also effective against the other Verticillium species that cause Verticillium wilt with a few exceptions. Cultivars identified as resistant to Verticillium wilt can be deployed to manage the disease until the breeding programs develop new cultivars with resistance from the sources identified in this study.

Wild relatives of staple crops often have useful traits that can be bred into the more productive varieties to sustain yields when the plants are subject to challenging growing conditions. This project aims to improve farmers�?? climate resilience by identifying useful genes in wild relatives of potato and breeding new strains with good resistance to drought and late blight disease | International Potato Center, 'Improved potatoes to boost climate resilience in Kenya and Peru. Project profile', p.2, International Potato Center, 2019

KEY MESSAGE: The nematode resistance gene H2 was mapped to the distal end of chromosome 5 in tetraploid potato. The H2 resistance gene, introduced into cultivated potatoes from the wild diploid species Solanum multidissectum, confers a high level of resistance to the Pa1 pathotype of the potato cyst nematode Globodera pallida. A cross between tetraploid H2-containing breeding clone P55/7 and susceptible potato variety Picasso yielded an F1 population that segregated approximately 1:1 for the resistance phenotype, which is consistent with a single dominant gene in a simplex configuration. Using genome reduction methodologies RenSeq and GenSeq, the segregating F1 population enabled the genetic characterisation of the resistance through a bulked segregant analysis. A diagnostic RenSeq analysis of the parents confirmed that the resistance in P55/7 cannot be explained by previously characterised resistance genes. Only the variety Picasso contained functionally characterised disease resistance genes Rpi-R1, Rpi-R3a, Rpi-R3b variant, Gpa2 and Rx, which was independently confirmed through effector vacuum infiltration assays. RenSeq and GenSeq independently identified sequence polymorphisms linked to the H2 resistance on the top end of potato chromosome 5. Allele-specific KASP markers further defined the locus containing the H2 gene to a 4.7 Mb interval on the distal short arm of potato chromosome 5 and to positions that correspond to 1.4 MB and 6.1 MB in the potato reference genome.

Sound management of late blight, the disease caused by the notorious oomycete pathogen Phytophthora infestans (Mont.) de Bary, is dependent on the pathogen’s population biology. However, for P. infestans population structure to give guidance for disease management, successful information flow between the researchers and the practitioners is paramount. We analysed the population in eastern-Africa to determine the pathogen genotypes present in the region. We characterized the isolates using microsatellite markers and mitochondrial DNA haplotypes to enable comparisons with global populations. A European lineage, 2_A1 was found to be dominating the population in eastern-Africa. In addition, the 2_A1 lineage was found to be more aggressive in terms of lesion size, latent periods and incubation periods when compared to the old US-1 lineage. We thus concluded that the tested aggressiveness traits could have partly contributed to the quick displacement of US-1 by 2_A1 in the region. In a study predicting host durability of a genetically engineered potato with a stack of three resistance genes as well as a conventionally bred potato with a stack of five resistance genes, the assessment of pathogen effector genes proved valuable to deduce which of the R-genes were functional in the field. From the effector study, it can be concluded that effector genes in target local P. infestans populations should inform selection of breeding materials since globally, pathogen populations are very diverse. An assessment of commonly grown potato cultivars in eastern-Africa to quantify their susceptibility to late blight in the field found out that nearly all cultivars had partial resistance to P. infestans. The growers’ choice of cultivars is to high degree governed by market demands. Unfortunately, many cultivars with good resistance to late blight have other undesirable agronomic traits hence the rationale behind growing cultivars that are highly susceptible to late blight. Disease management practices, host durability prediction tools and potato breeding approaches should be suitably adjusted to the existing pathogen population.

The obligate biotrophic chytrid species Synchytrium endobioticum is the causal agent of potato wart disease. Currently 39 pathotypes have been described based on their interaction with a differential set of potato varieties. Wart resistance and pathotyping is performed using bioassays in which etiolated tuber sprouts are inoculated. Here we describe an alternative method in which aboveground plant parts are inoculated. Susceptible plants produced typical wart symptoms in developing, but not in fully expanded, aboveground organs. Colonization of the host by S endobioticum was verified by screening for resting spores by microscopy and by molecular techniques using TaqMan PCR and RNAseq analysis. When applied to resistant plants, none of these symptoms were detectable. Recognition of S. endobioticum pathotypes by differentially resistant potato varieties was identical in aboveground plant parts and the tuber-based bioassays. This suggests that S. endobioticum resistance genes are expressed both in etiolated “belowground” sprouts and green aboveground organs. RNAseq analysis demonstrated that the symptomatic aboveground materials contain less contaminants compared to resting spores extracted from tuber-based assays. This reduced microbial contamination in the aboveground bioassay could be an important advantage to study this obligate biotrophic plant-pathogen interaction. As wart resistance is active in both below and above ground organs, the aboveground bioassay can potentially speed up screening for S. endobioticum resistance in potato breeding programs as it omits the requirement for tuber formation. In addition, possibilities arise to express S. endobioticum effectors in potato leaves through agroinfiltration, thereby providing additional phenotyping tools for research and breeding.