Identifying Genetic Markers for Metabolite Levels in Potato

The potato Solanum tuberosum is an important staple crop worldwide. Because of the significant role that potatoes play in the global diet, it is beneficial to focus potato breeding efforts on nutritional quality in addition to yield, disease resistance and agronomic traits. Potatoes can provide a wide range of nutrients such as vitamin C, folate, potassium, Vitamin B6, and selenium, as well as polyphenols, flavonoids, anthocyanins and carotenoids, all of which confer positive effects to human health. This project aims to facilitate the selection of potatoes with improved composition by developing genetic markers linked to individual, or groups of, important metabolites.  Methanol extracts of cooked tubers from 229 diverse potato cultivars and breeding clones were analyzed by Ultra Performance Liquid Chromatography coupled with Mass Spectrometry (UPLC-MS).  The same potatoes were genotyped with an Infinium SNP chip (8303 SNP markers). Nine-hundred and eighty one metabolic “features” were detected. Weighted Gene Correlation Network Analysis (WGCNA) was used to cluster individual features into groups. Eleven groups were formed.  Step-wise regression was done on potato chip color, and group eigenvalues; two groups were correlated with chip color at p <0.05.