Genome-Wide Association and Genomic Prediction for Fry Color in Potato

• Published in: Agronomy (Basel) Vol. 10; no. 1; p. 90
• Main Authors: Byrne, Stephen, Meade, Fergus, Mesiti, Francesca, Griffin, Denis, Kennedy, Colum, Milbourne, Dan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Basel MDPI AG 01.01.2020
• Subjects: Acrylamide; Breeding; Chromosome 10; Color; fry color; Genomes; genomic prediction; Genomics; Marker-assisted selection; Markers; Plant breeding; Population; potato; Potatoes; Quantitative trait loci; Sucrose; Vegetables
• ISSN: 2073-4395; 2073-4395
• DOI: 10.3390/agronomy10010090

Potatoes destined for crisping are normally stored above 8 degrees; below this glucose accumulates leading to very dark fry colors and potential acrylamide build up. Unfortunately, sprouting occurs above 4 degrees and impacts product quality, necessitating the use of sprout suppressant chemicals. Therefore, a goal of breeders is to develop potatoes with excellent fry color, which is maintained under storage below 8 degrees. Genomic or marker-assisted selection offers an opportunity to improve the efficiency of potato breeding and thereby assist breeders in achieving this goal. In this study, we have accumulated fry-color data on a large population of potato lines and combined this with genotypic data to carry out a GWAS and to evaluate accuracy of genomic prediction. We were able to identify a major QTL on chromosome 10 for fry color, and predict fry color with moderate accuracy using genome-wide markers. Furthermore, our results provide evidence that it is possible to identify a small subset of SNPs for processing characteristics that can give moderate predictive ability, albeit lower than that achieved with genome-wide markers.