November/December 2021 - 37

Research: Advancements in breeding
of cultivated tetraploid potato have
been limited by its complex genome
and reproductive barriers. Due to these
limitations, there is still an abundance
of economically important associated
genes in potatoes whose functions
have yet to be understood. To address
these limitations, breeding and genetic
engineering approaches are being
used in potato to create diploid selfcompatible
inbred lines that are more
accommodating for studying gene
function. At the diploid level we can also
more readily employ new biotechnology
techniques, like genome editing, which is
a molecular tool that can create specific
changes to a targeted sequence in an
organism's genetic material. This can be
used to both introduce advanced traits
into breeding material as well as being
a powerful tool to study gene function.
However, this requires germplasm that
is amenable to plant transformation and
regeneration, which are the methods we
use in the lab to introduce our genome
editing tools into the plant's cells and
then recover plants that have these
targeted changes, respectively.
Regeneration is a tissue culture
method that uses plant hormones to
stimulate certain plant tissues, like
leaves or stems, to produce shoots.
This method is
necessary
for most
applications of genome editing and
genetic engineering because it allows us
to recover a plant that carries the same
targeted change throughout all its cells.
Regeneration is a complex process and it
is time consuming and resource intensive
to study. Each plant within a species
responds uniquely to the hormones
used to regenerate, and identifying the
ideal conditions needed to regenerate
a given plant is challenging. Media and
culture conditions have been optimized
for several tetraploid potatoes, but there
is still a need for diploid germplasm that
can respond to these conditions as well.
To address these limitations, I wanted
to identify diploid potatoes that could
overcome these barriers. I assessed and
ranked selected diploid potatoes for
the traits valuable to applications of
genome editing. A set of seven lines were
evaluated for their regeneration ability,
tuber yield and self-fertility. Based on
their performance for the above traits, I
identified several lines that can be used
for applications of genome editing in
potato, as well as ruling out ones that
are not ideal.
This research serves as a foundation in
our pursuit of understanding what makes
the traits in potato that we know and love.
Francisco Gonzalez
Bio:
I earned a Ph.D.
in
potato
agronomy from Washington State
Spudman * November/December 2021
35

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