International Research Team Creates Map of Significant Potato Traits

An international team including researchers from The James Hutton Institute has shed light on the evolution and biology of the potato as a genetically complex global food crop.

Commercially grown potatoes are tetraploids with four sets of chromosomes. Diploid potato varieties – with just two sets of chromosomes – are less complex to breed and have the potential to revolutionize future potato breeding and production.

The research team, led by the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, explored the genome evolution and diversity of 24 wild and 20 cultivated diploid potato varieties. They then created a map of significant genetic traits that may help breeders accelerate the development of new varieties.

Dr. Glenn Bryan, a potato geneticist at the James Hutton Institute's Cell and Molecular Sciences group and a co-author of the study, said the work gives a ‘pan genome' view across a diverse set of diploid potatoes that span the domestication timeline of an important global food crop.

For more details, read the article on The James Hutton Institute website.