Identification of Resistance to Dickeya dianthicola Soft Rot in Solanum microdontum

摘要

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 an urgent 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 Solanum microdontum lines with high-level resistance that may be useful as source germplasm for breeding soft rot resistance into commercial potato varieties.