International Day of Potato | 30 May

Potato - facts

3rd
most consumed food crop globally

159
countries cultivate it

5 000
varieties worldwide

Potato starch plays an important role as a renewable raw material in a wide range of industries. The broad spectrum of non-food applications ranges from paper, coatings, materials and composites to cosmetics, bioplastics and pharmaceuticals. Potato starch consists of two building blocks, the industrial focus is usually on amylopectin, the simultaneous accumulation of the second building block amylose is not desirable.

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Colorful potatoes are not only beautiful to look at, they are also good for your health because, unlike their pale counterparts, they contain higher levels of colorful phytochemicals known as anthocyanins. To make these available to as many people as possible, the "MoMaPo" project (Molecular markers for the generation of potatoes with enhanced anthocyanin content) has developed molecular tools for the targeted breeding of such potatoes.

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Many valuable traits are inherited recessively; to be expressed in the tetraploid potato, all four copies of the gene must be identical, inactive or active. By crossing in other desirable traits, the recessive traits are lost and must be restored in a further crossing step. This multiplies the crossing and selection effort in potato breeding. The selection of recessive alleles is usually done by sequencing. However, as the number of plants increases, sequencing becomes difficult and expensive.
The project "High-throughput analysis for TILLING-adapted starch potato breeding" therefore focused on the development of shorter breeding cycles and their combination with high-throughput analysis.

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Natural potato populations (wild plants, landraces) are an important reservoir of genetic diversity. They are an excellent source of valuable genes and traits for breeding. In the project "Advantage", the cooperation with the Universidad Austral de Chile provides the opportunity to use one of the most important potato gene banks in Chile. The aim of the bilateral German-Chilean project "Advantage" is to improve several potato traits that are currently detrimental for food and/or industrial applications.

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Mitigating climate change and sustainably feeding a growing population in a changing climate are two major challenges facing the global community. Engineering photosynthesis, nature's carbon capture machine, can help us overcome these threats. Photosynthesis is inefficient: most land plants convert only about 1 to 2 percent of the light energy they receive into chemical energy. The EU-funded PhotoBoost project is taking a holistic approach to improving the photosynthetic performance and productivity of crops under different environmental conditions. In a greenhouse trial, researchers at Fraunhofer IME demonstrated an increase in potato yield of up to 44 percent.     Poster

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Pathogen detection by isothermal amplification

Potato plants are susceptible to a number of economically important viruses that can affect tuber quality and reduce yields by up to 50 percent. One of the biggest threats is viral iron spot: A tuber necrosis caused by the tobacco rattle virus (TRV) and transmitted by nematodes.
The BMEL funded TRV2GO project has therefore developed a simple, stable and sensitive detection method that can be carried out without special equipment, making it suitable for practical use. The diagnostic method is based on isothermal amplification of viral gene segments combined with specific detection of the amplification products using a lateral flow dipstick.

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Insect vectors

The planthopper Pentastiridius leporinus (Hempiptera: Cixiidae) is the main vector of two bacterial pathogens: the γ-proteobacterium ‘Candidatus Arsenophonus phytopathogenicus’ and the stolbur phytoplasma ‘Candidatus Phytoplasma solani’. In 2022, potato fields were found to be colonized by P. leporinus, and the transmission of Arsenophonus was confirmed, resulting in symptoms like wilting, yellow leaves, and rubbery tubers. In 2022 and 2023 both pathogens in Southwest Germany were monitored. This revealed their widespread presence in potato tubers, although there were differences in regional prevalence. We confirmed that P. leporinus adults can transmit both pathogens to potatoes, but neither pathogen reduced the germination rate of tubers, and no plants showed abnormal growth after germination. Arsenophonus was not detected in germinated shoots, but 5.4% contained stolbur, emphasizing the need for plant material testing to maintain phytosanitary conditions.
Rinklef et al. 2024

Strengthening of pathogen resistance

Pests cause significant losses in potato harvests worldwide, which is why the BMEL-funded ADLATUS project aims to improve the potato's resistance to important pathogens. With the help of new host factors and existing defense mechanisms, the resistance of potatoes to viruses and nematodes in particular is to be strengthened and yields secured in the future. The focus is on important quarantine and non-quarantine pathogens such as root gall nematodes (Meloidogyne chitwoodi), potato virus Y, potato leafroll virus and tobacco rattle virus.

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In addition to starch, potato tubers accumulate up to 6 percent protein by dry weight. Protease inhibitors account for 1-10 percent of total proteins and play various roles in plant development and defense against pests and pathogens. To explore the functional range of the natural diversity of potato protease inhibitors, Fischer et al. selected and sequenced 9,600 cDNA clones from mature tubers of ten potato cultivars. Among these, 120 unique inhibitor cDNA clones were identified by homology searches. 88 inhibitors represented novel sequence variants of known plant protease inhibitor families. 23 inhibitors were functionally characterized after heterologous expression in the yeast Pichia pastoris and tested for inhibitory activity, revealing potential biotechnological or medical applications. Fischer et al. 2015