The Journal of Experimental Botany published online the paper—Potato late blight field resistance from QTL dPI09c is conferred by the NB-LRR gene R8, contributed by Prof. Xie Conghua’s team, on February 27.

Potato late blight was the proximate cause of Great Irish Famine in 1845. Given the rapid evolvement of the pathogen and vulnerability of race-specific resistance of most R genes, revelation of durable resistance mechanism and cultivation of durable resistant varieties have been the pressing concerns in the potato industry. Over ten years’ systematic research, Xie’s team have identified the late blight broad-spectrum resistant QTL dPI09c on potato chromosome 9. With further fine mapping and BAC sequencing, the dPI09c was attested to be an R gene enrichment region. The combination of gene diagnosis and functional verification of R gene has led to the revelation that late blight resistance from dPI09c is conferred by NB-LRR gene R8 and the resistance against pathogens from different sources remains at similar levels. During a 10-year assessment, the field resistance in late-blight-stricken areas of South America has remained stable.

The study also suggests that gene R8 is highly conserved in different resistant materials, making it a valuable finding for improving resistance against potato late blight. Being the first of its kind to justify the single R gene regulating the QTLs, the research has shed light on the mechanism of plant immunity. HZAU’s PhD student Jiang Rui is the first author of this paper, and the corresponding authors are Prof. Xie Conghua and colleagues from the International Potato Center and the James Hutton Institute. This research project was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China.

Translated by Pan Mengting     Proofread by Xie Lujie

Original Text: http://news.hzau.edu.cn/2018/0303/51473.shtml