Influence of genetics on heat tolerance of potato
How do genetics influence heat tolerance in potato?
Climate change increases the occurrence of heat waves and other extreme weather conditions, which are a particular challenge for sensitive crops such as potatoes. Improving heat tolerance in potato is a topic that the Department of Biochemistry has been working on for some time. Recent progress has been published in the journal Genomics (Kaier and Beck et al. 2024).
In this study, 178 different potato cultivars were investigated in the greenhouse under heat stress and control conditions. It was observed that heat caused potato plants to invest more energy in their shoot growth than in tuber formation. The differences in heat-related losses between the varieties formed the foundation for a genome-wide association study (GWAS). Genomic regions were identified that are associated with heat-induced changes in agronomically important traits such as yield and starch content in tubers. These results provide a promising basis for the development of heat-tolerant potato varieties that possess improved resilience towards the consequences of climate change.
