Bringing New Potato Varieties To The Industry

I just came from the huge National Potato Council Potato Expo in Orlando, FL. While the main topic of discussion was the unusually cold weather, there was also a considerable amount of time devoted to new varieties. In fact, it seems like no matter where you are — at the Potato Expo, at our own Idaho Potato Conference, or any other potato meeting — whenever there is a presentation on new varieties, the room is usually full.

There have been some amazing new developments in the last year or so that have the potential to greatly improve our ability to more rapidly bring new, improved varieties to the industry. The big news? The entire genome of the potato has recently been sequenced. While the potential of this development may yet take some time to be realized, it certainly carries an enormous amount of promise.

Marker Assisted Breeding

One development from the potato genome sequencing project that we may see put to work very quickly is an increase in the use and the accuracy of “marker assisted breeding.” This laboratory procedure links DNA markers with desirable traits, allowing the rapid screening of clones advancing through a breeding program for those desirable traits, thereby speeding the development of new, improved varieties.

As the new information on the potato genome comes to light, it may become possible in the future to screen for literally hundreds of traits, both positive and negative. Using these procedures will make it possible to keep only those potential new selections that have the characteristics that we want and to get rid of any that have very undesirable traits. I strongly emphasize that these techniques do not involve any kind of “genetic engineering” or artificial genetic transformations of the varieties that are being investigated.

What is a genetic marker? In a nutshell, it is a unique sequence of DNA already present in a potato that is tightly linked to a particular trait of interest. The marker doesn’t have to be a part of the actual gene that codes for a particular trait, though it could be. Potato breeders are currently working with only a handful of such markers. The genome project has identified more than a quarter million potential markers but hopes to pare this number down to around 7,500. Work will still need to be done to link these genetic markers to traits of interest, but the potential is there.

Using these new tools, it should be possible for breeders to identify potential new varieties that have resistance to Potato Virus Y, late blight, silver scurf, or any disease problem that we have currently identified genetic resistance for, as well as identifying those that are overly susceptible to such problems. How about varieties that require lower inputs for water and fertilizer or varieties that store at lower temperatures and still make outstanding chips and fries? We could also identify markers that will allow us to find potential varieties with favorable human nutritional characteristics like low acrylamide, low glycemic index, high antioxidant levels and … you get the picture.

Going into the session where this topic was presented, I was braced for another presentation on the production of new varieties. I came away with a look at a completely new way to screen for new varieties. The breeders will still be employing the age-old breeding techniques of pollinating flowers to produce true seed. These new techniques will allow them to greatly speed up and finely target suitable parental stock and to follow the segregation of the desirable trait in progeny selections.

Yeah, there’s still a lot of work to do before we get there, but welcome to the Brave New World of potato breeding!