Parent-offspring correlation estimate of heritability for late blight resistance conferred by an accession of the tomato wild species Solanum pimpinellifolium

Sixteen tomato [Solanum lycopersicum L. (syn. Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.)] genotypes (inbred lines or hybrids) were tested against five Phytophthora infestans (Mont.) deBary isolates to characterize race specificity of late blight resistance transferred to tomato from Solanum pimpinellifolium L. [syn. Lycopersicon pimpinellifolium (L.) Mill.] accession L3708. The effects of plant genotype, isolate, genotype × isolate, and isolate × replication interactions were highly significant (P = 0.001). Set of four sister lines fixed for late blight resistance (CU-R lines) exhibited full and equal resistance to the five pathogen isolates tested. In contrast, the heterozygous F1 hybrids, created by crossing the resistant CU-R lines with a susceptible parent, were resistant to US-11; partially resistant to US-17, NC-1, and DR4B; and susceptible to US-7. Differential responses were also observed across pathogen isolates on a set of resistant sister lines (CLN-R lines), which also were bred from L3708. The CLN-R lines were resistant to the DR4B, NC-1, and US-11 isolates, but showed significant disease-affected areas and sporangium numbers following inoculation with either US-7 or US-17. Restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis confirms that both CU-R and CLN-R are homozygous for the Ph-3 gene derived from L3708. Since progeny tests also confirmed that the CLN-R lines are fixed for their level of resistance, these results suggest that late blight resistance in the CU-R lines is not controlled by Ph-3 alone, and that at least one additional gene conferring late blight resistance is missing from the CLN-R lines. Results of genetic tests of the (CU-R × CLN-R) F1 and a (CU-R × CLN-R) F2 population with the pathogen isolate US-17 strongly support a model in which resistance of the CU-R lines requires genes in addition to Ph-3. The implications of this information in breeding for late blight resistance and using of the resulting resistant lines or hybrids are discussed.

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Mutations introduced in susceptibility genes through CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing confer increased late blight resistance in potatoes

Scientific Reports ◽

10.1038/s41598-021-83972-w ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Nam Phuong Kieu ◽

Marit Lenman ◽

Eu Sheng Wang ◽

Bent Larsen Petersen ◽

Erik Andreasson

Keyword(s):

Late Blight ◽

Late Blight Resistance ◽

Susceptibility Genes ◽

Blight Resistance ◽

R Genes ◽

Guide Rnas ◽

Knockout Mutants ◽

Growth Phenotype ◽

Allelic Deletion ◽

S Genes

AbstractThe use of pathogen-resistant cultivars is expected to increase yield and decrease fungicide use in agriculture. However, in potato breeding, increased resistance obtained via resistance genes (R-genes) is hampered because R-gene(s) are often specific for a pathogen race and can be quickly overcome by the evolution of the pathogen. In parallel, susceptibility genes (S-genes) are important for pathogenesis, and loss of S-gene function confers increased resistance in several plants, such as rice, wheat, citrus and tomatoes. In this article, we present the mutation and screening of seven putative S-genes in potatoes, including two DMR6 potato homologues. Using a CRISPR/Cas9 system, which conferred co-expression of two guide RNAs, tetra-allelic deletion mutants were generated and resistance against late blight was assayed in the plants. Functional knockouts of StDND1, StCHL1, and DMG400000582 (StDMR6-1) generated potatoes with increased resistance against late blight. Plants mutated in StDND1 showed pleiotropic effects, whereas StDMR6-1 and StCHL1 mutated plants did not exhibit any growth phenotype, making them good candidates for further agricultural studies. Additionally, we showed that DMG401026923 (here denoted StDMR6-2) knockout mutants did not demonstrate any increased late blight resistance, but exhibited a growth phenotype, indicating that StDMR6-1 and StDMR6-2 have different functions. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on the mutation and screening of putative S-genes in potatoes, including two DMR6 potato homologues.

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