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Project properties |
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| Title | Selection of complementary late blight R gene pairs for cisgenic and organic farming in potato |
| Group | Plant Breeding, Laboratory of |
| Project type | thesis |
| Credits | 18-39 |
| Supervisor(s) | Jack Vossen |
| Examiner(s) | Yuling Bai, Jack Vossen |
| Contact info | Jack Vossen, jack.vossen@wur.nl |
| Begin date | 2024/04/01 |
| End date | 2026/12/31 |
| Description | Late blight, caused by Phytophthora infestans, is the most devastating disease for potato cultivation. Recent restrictions in the use of copper fertilisation as a crop protectant have urged organic farmers to seek their resort in late blight resistant varieties. Resistance genes (R genes) that recognise effector molecules from P infestans have been introgressed from wild relatives into potato varieties. The level of resistance is very high but, unfortunately, the durability of resistance is very low. P infestans can efficiently escape recognitions by losing the recognised effector. Stacking of multiple R genes and R gene rotation is a next step in disease management that is required for future sustainable potato production. In this project we aim to identify combinations of R genes that provide the highest level of durability. For this purpose in previous research, all many different combinations of R genes have been introduced into potato variety Desiree using cisgenesis. In this thesis you will study if the introduced resistance genes have been stably integrated in the genome using specific PCR primers that can distinguish the cisgene from the native alleles. The successful expression of all introduced cisgenes will be studied at the functional and molecular level. Effectors that are specifically recognised by the products of the cisgenes will be transferred to the plant using agroinfiltration and the defence response of the plant will be measured. Also the potato plants will be inoculated with isolates of P. infestans that are differentially recognised by either of the cisgenes. Finally, plants will be selected that functionally express both cisgenes to compile a novel late blight differential set with all possible combinations of R genes. This set will be subjected to extreme late blight pressure in situation of artifical and natural infection to select complementary late blight R gene pairs that provide the highest level of durability. |
| Used skills | - in vitro culture of potato plants
- Tissue culture techniques - Genomic DNA isolation - RNA isolation - PCR, Q-PCR - Disease resistance assays - Agroinfiltration |
| Requirements | Interest in Plant Pathogen interaction and biotechnology |