CULTIVAR DEVELOPMENT: ACCELERATED INTROGRESSION OF SYNTHETIC HEXAPLOID DERIVED DIVERSITY INTO AN APPLIED HARD WINTER WHEAT BREEDING PROGRAM

Wild species relatives of potato provide a more diverse and accessible germplasm resource compared to any other crop as they grow from sea level to 4300 m and are found in a wide array of environments including cold high grasslands, hot semi-deserts, seasonally dry habitats, humid subtropical to temperate mountain rainforests, and coastal beaches. Most wild relatives cross readily with cultivated potato, producing offspring with acceptable tuber yield and type that can provide the genetic diversity required to adapt potato production to stressful environments, including those with low water availability, seasonal frost, heat stress, and disease/pest pressure. One diploid species that was central in the domestication and improvement of potato was Solanum microdontum in which a clear association of adaptive traits in modern North American cultivars can be traced to introgressions from S. microdontum during the movement of cultivated potatoes from Peru/Bolivia to southern Argentina. To build towards genomic and germplasm resources for a diploid potato breeding approach, in this project, we will interrogate the diversity of S. microdontum at the sequence and phenotype level to provide germplasm, sequence, and molecular resources that will enable efficient breeding of potato varieties with resistance to late blight, the major pathogen of potato, as well as tolerance to heat associated with global warming.Our specific objectives are:Objective 1. Phenotype a S. microdontum diversity panel for late blight resistance, heat tolerance, and resistance to late blight under elevated temperature to address challenges in potato production due to climate change.Objective 2. Generate a chromosome-scale long read-generated S. microdontum reference genome sequence, characterize allelic diversity within the species S. microdontum, and provide single genotyped and phenotyped clones to the USDA Potato Genebank.