Development of Methods for Bulk Segregate Analysis in Polyploids to Facilitate Marker Assisted Selection in Tetraploid Potato

Breeding for increased space and resource efficient crops is important to feed the world's increasing population and support a societal shift from a fossil fuel-based to a bio-based society.  Crops with storage organs in the soil, like potato (S. tuberosum), produce twice the amount of calories per hectare with the same or less input compared to cereals, but breeding tools have been limited and thus a high unexploited potential is likely to present in the elite germplasm. The completion of the genome sequence of potato has enabled applications such as bulk segregate analysis (BSA) to rapidly identify genomic loci of agronomical interest and associated molecular markers to use in e.g. marker assisted selection (MAS) and Genomics Selection (GS). We have developed a next generation sequencing-assisted ultra-rapid BSA method which we apply on a population of a ~ 5,000 individuals derived from a poly parental cross consisting of 19 tetraploid breeding clones. The population is derived from elite germplasm and is being phenotyped for six major traits in potato.

Here we present the BSA method developed, initial results from different data sets, and the development of genetic markers based on re-sequencing data of the 19 breeding clones. These markers will be used to perform BSAs on the off spring enabling the development of a MAS and GS platform for potato.