Potato is the third most important food crop worldwide. However, genetic and genomic research of potato has lagged behind other major crops due to the autopolyploidy and highly heterozygous nature associated with the potato genome. Reliable and technically undemanding techniques are not available for functional gene assays in potato. Here we report the development of a transient gene expression...

This experiment was carried out during the two growing seasons 2012/2013 and 2013/2014 at the experimental farm of Unit for Strawberry and Non Traditional Horticulture Crops, Horticulture Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Ain Shams University, Egypt, in order to investigate the effect of magnetic field on germination of true potato seeds (TPS), vegetative growth and potato tubers characterist...

The Amflora (EH92-527-1) potato is a genetically modified (GM) potato in which only starch of the amylopectin form is produced. This has been achieved by intervening with the biosynthesis of starch in this variety of potato. The Amflora potato is solely grown for the purposes of enhancing its industrial application. Although the Amflora potato is not fit for human consumption, the presence of t...

Verticillium wilt of potato is a major limiting factor in potato production caused by Verticillium dahliae. The objective of this study was to evaluate the efficacy two elicitors including Acibenzolar-S-methyl (ASM) and Chitosan as plant activator in controlling of potato verticillium wilt in vitro and greenhouse conditions. ASM and chitosan were tested in vitro using Potato dextrose Agar (PDA)...

A molecular probe, p3POT, was constructed of PSTVd, PVY, PLRV cDNA fragments introduced into pUC18 vector. Sequencing of the inserts revealed that cloned fragments covered conservative parts of pathogenic genomes. Dot-blot hybridization of digoxigenin-labelled construct to crude extracts from plants infected with different potato viruses proved high sensitivity and specificity of the p3POT prob...

Like many plant RNA viruses, infection by potato spindle tuber viroid (PSTVd) is known to lead to RNA silencing and a marked reduction in visible disease. To examine the relationship between RNA silencing and this recovery phenomenon in greater detail, we have carried out time-course analyses of viroid-specific small RNA accumulation using several viroid—host combinations. These analyses reveal...

The Colorado potato beetle, Leptinotarsa decemlineata (Say) Order Coleoptera and the potato leafhopper, Empoasca fabae (Harris) Order Homoptera, are the major insect pests of potato in eastern North America. In two years of field trials, we compared the effectiveness of three pest management options for the control of Colorado potato beetle and potato leafhopper: natural host plant resistance (...

BACKGROUND The potato is one of the most common types of genetically modified (GM) food. However, there are no published data evaluating the impact of genetic manipulations on the allergenicity of GM potatoes. To compare the allergenicity of GM potatoes with that of wild-type potatoes using in vivo and in vitro methods in adult allergy patients sensitized to potatoes. METHODS A total of 1886 ...

Potato Genebank of the Universidad Austral de Chile (UACh) is an important gene bank in Chile. The accessions collected all over the country possess high genetic diversity, present interesting agronomic and cooking traits, and show resistance to biotic and abiotic stress. A particularly interesting subgroup of the gene bank includes the accessions collected in the South of Chile, the Chilota Po...