Author
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Jansky, Shelley |
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Spooner, David |
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Submitted to: Plant Breeding Reviews
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal Publication Acceptance Date: 9/6/2016 Publication Date: 1/8/2018 Citation: Jansky, S.H., Spooner, D.M. 2018. The evolution of potato breeding. Plant Breeding Reviews. 41:169-214. Interpretive Summary: Cultivated potato originated in South America and was transported to Europe and then North America. Breeding strategies today are similar to those of a century ago. However, the complex genetic nature of potato cultivars has impeded breeding progress. A transition to a simpler genetic system based on hybridization of diploid inbred lines would allow breeders to take advantage of emerging genetics and genomics resources and will likely improve genetic gain from breeding. Technical Abstract: Potato cultivars in most regions of the world are tetraploid and clonally propagated. For over a century, the breeding strategy has been phenotypic recurrent selection. However, the polyploid nature of the crop prevents breeders from eliminating deleterious alleles and assembling positive alleles for the large array of traits necessary for a cultivar to be successful. Breeders have assumed cultivars must be tetraploid, but some diploids produce yields equivalent to tetraploid cultivars. In South America, land races exist at multiple ploidy levels, with no clear phenotypic distinction due to ploidy. The next step in the progression of potato breeding strategies may be to return to the diploid level. This will allow breeders to reduce the genetic load through inbreeding and then combine desirable traits through hybridization. |
