SolRgene database

Welcome to the SolRgene database, the resource for Solanum disease resistance genes

The SolRgene database consists of 1.062 accessions, and 12.584 genotypes, that were explored for R genes to Phytophthora infestans.

Potato (S. tuberosum) is the third most important food crop word-wide, but a major constraint to potato production is that potato cultivars are susceptible to many pathogens. In the tuber-bearing Solanum species, a wealth of R genes is present, which is ready to be exploited. From the Solanum section Petota that comprises many species, we used more than 1,000 accessions that comprise all phylogenetic groups and geographic origins, and form the basis of SolRgene.

A core collection of the SolRgene database is maintained in vitro, and available for research purposes.

R gene identification

R genes to potato pathogens are being identified based on accurate assays using individual genotypes and genetic analysis. Disease assays in high-throughput in vitro screenings, accurate elaborate detached leaf assays and multi-year field trials are the cornerstone of our approach, which already allowed us to identify and isolate various R genes that confer resistance against Phytophthora infestans, the most notorious and destructive pathogen in cultivated potato. In addition, functional Rx genes, conferring resistance to potato virus X (PVX) were detected using allele-mining strategies in distinctly related wild potato species, pointing out a common ancestor for these genes in Solanum.

SolRgene is the current and future R gene resource against P. infestans and other potato pathogens. The database is a basis for molecular breeding in potato, following the approaches below.

• Map-based cloning.
  • New R genes are isolated based on the phenotypic data of wild germplasm and derived segregating populations
  • Example: Segregating populations (7698 and 7663) from S. venturii 367_3 and 365_1 lead to the isolation of Rpi-vnt1.1 and Rpi-vnt1.3 that confer resistance to P. infestans (Pel et al).
• Effector genomics
  • Functional bio-assays with effectors in combination with the phenotypic data of SolRgene accelerates cloning of functional R genes.
  • Example: Response to effectors co-segregates with resistance to P. infestans in population 7148 from S. stoloniferum 389_4, and Rpi-sto1 and a functional homologue Rpi-pta1 from S. papita 767_8 were swiftly cloned using effector genomics.
• Allele-mining
  • Allele-mining the SolRgene collection for R genes resulted in isolation of functional homologues for e.g. Rx (Butterbach et al, 2007) and Blb1. Sequences from individual genotypes, of the the SolRgene Solanum collection, for the different studies can be mined here.

The SolRgene database is bringing together all information on Solanum resistance genes, including phenotypic, genetic and phylogenetic characterizations. It is directly linked to genetic resources databases (CGN, CPC, GLKS, CIP, BGRC, NRS, Germinate), the constantly growing body of sequence information (high dense recombination map of potato, PoMaMo) and will soon be linked to the full genome potato sequence (PGSC). A Solanum in vitro collection is being maintained, and individual genotypes are available to the scientific community as in vitro plants for future experiments.

Development of the late blight field trial 2007 with Solanum germplasm.

Please contact Richard Finkers in case of problems/wishes.

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