Harnessing the natural variation in a wild potato collection to light environments

Research into the responses of crops to different light inputs offers unique opportunities to study disease defence responses and important physiological processes. In potatoes, we have evidence that indicates that pathogens such as late blight use specific effectors to perturb host pathways associated with light reception to facilitate infection. Further, crop treatment with blue, red, and far-red light significantly alters the speed of pathogen infection, highlighting the importance of light quality as an environmental stimulus that contributes to defence.

For example, red light treatment has been shown to significantly reduce Potato Late Blight disease severity and speed up host SA-based resistance responses (Naqvi et al., 2022).

Further, light is an important signal for flower and/or tuber development in potatoes. Growing long-day adapted potatoes under intense light for 22 hours significantly expedites the time from emergence to flower development which is used in 'speed-breeding' or winter crossing facilities. Plants grown under such conditions further reveal significant differences in their height, foliage weight, tuber numbers and mean weight.

However, not all potatoes respond equally to these conditions. Taking advantage of the diversity of potatoes within the Commonwealth Potato Collection, the CPC, we can sample plants that originate from distinct environments and assess their responses to light. The diversity includes species that grow at sea level, high altitudes, deserts and cloud forests and thus have adapted to very different environments including light quality and availability.

Importantly, the development of flexible LED technologies allows us to design different light environments to assess the adaptability potential of diverse Solanum species.

This project aims to help understanding how light signals combine to regulate the growth and life cycle of Solanum species and the impact on immune induction. In addition to understanding the mechanistic and molecular components of potato responses to distinct light inputs, this project has the potential to deliver improved methodologies that reduce crop production timing, deliver sturdy material for transplantation and enhance tolerance to tolerant to biotic stressors, contributing to a more sustainable potato production.