Cloning and Analysis Of The Gene Responsible For The Plant Maturity QTL In Potato: Molecular Pathways Of Potato Domestication

Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) originates from the Andes and most wild genotypes are short-day dependent for tuber-formation. In diploid research material as well as in tetraploid cultivars the presence of a major-effect QTL for Plant Maturity and Earliness of tuber formation has been mapped on Chromosome 5 close to the R1 resistance gene cluster. Using map based cloning together with deep bi-allelic sequence data of chromosome 5, we have now identified a gene coding for a central regulator underlying this major-effect QTL. We show that this gene belongs to the family of DOF transcription factors and regulates tuberisation and plant life-cycle length, by acting as a mediator between the circadian clock and the mobile tuberisation signal. We also show that naturally occurring allelic variants of this protein, evade post-translational light regulation. We propose that this adaption has allowed the cultivation of potato outside the centre of origin, under long-day conditions of spring and summer that prevail in northern temperate latitudes.