CROP WILD RELATIVES

ABSTRACT: Late blight caused by Phytophthora infestans is one of the most devastating diseases in potato cultivation and is mostly controlled by the application of chemicals. However, introduction of combinations of resistance (R) genes conferring broad-spectrum resistance from wild Solanum species into cultivated potatoes is considered the most practical and promising approach to achieve durable resistance. This can be realized via classical breeding or genetic modification (GM). Because classical breeding is very time-consuming and is often hampered by linkage drag, a GM approach seems logic in this heterozygous and vegetatively propagated crop. During the last decades, many R genes have been identified in several wild Solanum species. Some have been cloned and more will follow. When these genes are derived from species crossable with cultivated potato (so-called cisgenes), application in resistance breeding using a GM approach is similar to an introgression breeding approach, in that the exploited genes are indigenous to the crop. Pending deregulation or derogation of cisgenesis, the use of cisgenic R genes would be an ideal strategy to accomplish durable resistance in potato.