Skip to main content
ARS Home » Northeast Area » Ithaca, New York » Robert W. Holley Center for Agriculture & Health » Emerging Pests and Pathogens Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #387027
Research Project: Characterization of Molecular Networks in Diseases Caused by Emerging and Persistent Bacterial Plant Pathogens

Location: Emerging Pests and Pathogens Research

Title: Identification of resistance to Dickeya dianthicola soft rot in Solanum microdontum

Author
item MA, XING - Cornell University
item LOFTON, LILY - University Of Georgia
item Bamberg, John
item Swingle, Bryan

Submitted to: American Journal of Potato Research
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 12/12/2021
Publication Date: 2/2/2022
Citation: Ma, X., Lofton, L., Bamberg, J.B., Swingle, B.M. 2022. Identification of resistance to Dickeya dianthicola soft rot in Solanum microdontum. American Journal of Potato Research. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12230-021-09859-8.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12230-021-09859-8

Interpretive Summary: Cultivated potato is susceptible to bacterial diseases that cause stems and tubers to rot. There have been increased outbreaks of this disease in potato production regions in the Eastern United States and Canada. The most sustainable way to solve this problem is to develop new varieties of potato that are resistant to these diseases, but to do this, we need to find resistant plants that can be bred with normal cultivated potato. Fortunately, the USDA maintains collections of plants, which include wild plants that are related to the crop plants. These wild plants often have traits (like disease resistance) that the cultivated plants lack. In this study we conducted experiments to screen wild potato relatives in the USDA collection for resistance to potato soft rot disease. We found a line of wild potato (Solanum microdontum) that is resistant to soft rot disease. The wild potato plants that we found are native to the Andes mountains in central Bolivia and northern Argentina. Also important, these plants have the right types of features that make them able to cross with cultivated potato, which will be pursued in subsequent research.

Technical Abstract: Bacteria belonging to the Pectobacterium and Dickeya genera are globally-distributed phytopathogens that are responsible for economically important soft rot and blackleg diseases of potatoes. Since 2014, there have been increased outbreaks of blackleg disease in the Eastern US, with many cases caused by an especially virulent, nearly clonal strain of Dickeya dianthicola. This disease is thought to be spread via commercial trade of seed tubers with latent infections of these bacteria. There is a need to develop resistant potato varieties to help reduce the accidental spread and damage caused by these diseases. In this study, we conducted an iterative screen of US Potato Genebank (Sturgeon Bay, WI) collections to find wild potato relatives with resistance to tuber soft rot. We found several S. microdontum lines with high-level resistance that may be useful as source germplasm for breeding soft rot resistance into commercial potato varieties.