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ARS Home » Midwest Area » Madison, Wisconsin » Vegetable Crops Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #314204
Title: Potential molecular markers associated with tuber calcium content in wild potato germplasm

Author
item CHUNG, Y - University Of Wisconsin
item PALTA, J - University Of Wisconsin
item Bamberg, John
item Jansky, Shelley

Submitted to: Crop Science
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 9/25/2015
Publication Date: 3/1/2016
Publication URL: http://handle.nal.usda.gov/10113/62046
Citation: Chung, Y.S., Palta, J., Bamberg, J., Jansky, S. 2016. Potential molecular markers associated with tuber calcium content in wild potato germplasm. Crop Science. 56(2):576-584. doi: 10.2135/cropsci2015.06.0370.

Interpretive Summary: Potato (Solanum tuberosum) is the most important vegetable crop in the US and world. It has about 100 wild relative species that can be used for breeding and research to improve the crop. One of these, Solanum microdontum, can deposit five or six times as much calcium in its potatoes than normal varieties, making it a good tool for study of this trait. While the higher calcium is not significant for human health, it has a great impact on the integrity of the potato in terms of resistance to disease, stress, and developmental abnormalities. We used this species to create families of individuals segregating from very low to very high calcium in their potatoes. When these individuals were fingerprinted with DNA markers, some of those markers were associated with high calcium. Now breeders wanting to improve the calcium in new varieties to get the associated improved potato quality need not grow and test the potatoes themselves, but can have a tremendously quicker, cheaper and easier shortcut in simply testing a small piece of leaf from a young seedlings plant for the tell-tale DNA marker.

Technical Abstract: High tuber calcium is associated with a reduced incidence of disease and physiological disorders in potato. However, genetic variation for tuber calcium content in cultivated potato is low, limiting opportunities to study the genetic basis of this trait. We utilized wild germplasm to develop a population segregating for tuber calcium concentration. The high calcium accumulating potato wild relative Solanum microdontum (clone M15) was crossed to the low calcium accumulating relative S. kurtzianum (clone K12) and 12 F1 individuals were intercrossed to create a segregating population. Significant variation in tuber calcium content was found in this population, and simple sequence repeats (SSRs) were tested for association with tuber calcium content. Twelve of 42 SSRs tested were associated with tuber calcium content. SSR4743 on chromosome 7 was found to be linked to a cation exchanger-like (CAX3-like) gene known to be involved with calcium uptake in plants. Breeders may utilize these molecular markers to aid in selecting plants with high tuber calcium levels to enhance tuber quality and resistance.