Plant & Animal Genome IX Conference Plant & Animal Genome IX Conference
Poster: Large Insert Libraries, Gene Isolation, Etc.
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Potato is one of the most important food crops for humans. Diseases and insects, such as late blight and Colorado potato beetle (CPB), are major limitations in potato production and can cause severe yield and quality losses. Development of new cultivars resistant to late blight and CPB is one of priorities in our potato research program. Many wild potato species have been shown to be highly resistant to the disease and insect. To accelerate the exploitation of wild potato gene pools for potato improvement, we are currently developing an integrated genomics program using wild potato species for improvement of late blight and CPB resistance in potato. We have applied the large insert BAC technology on a wild Mexican diploid species, Solanum pinnatisectum, which has been shown to be highly resistant to different diseases and insects, including the late blight and CPB. Two BAC libraries from S. pinnatisetum using the pECBAC1 vector have been recently constructed. One library was constructed in the Bam HI site of pECBAC1, while the other was cloned into the Eco RI site of pECBAC1. The two BAC libraries contains about 50,000 clones with an average insert size of 130 kb, represent over 6 x equivalents to the diploid potato haploid genome. The Bam HI library contains 25,000 clones with an average insert size of 125 kb. The Eco RI library also contains 25,000 clones with an average insert size of 135 kb. The two BAC libraries were stored as individual clones in 384-well microplates. The characterization of the two BAC libraries and screening of the BAC clones for the disease and insect resistance genes using DNA markers are in progress. These two libraries will provide a valuable resource for potato genome research and the physical mapping of genes on potato chromosomes by molecular cytogenetic approach.