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Concurrent Session

Session: Concurrent Session: Crop resistance genetics and genomics

Potato NLRome Empowers Discovery of Late Blight Disease Resistance Genes

Wednesday, July 16, 2025
15:55 - 16:15  
Location: Room M+N

    Author(s)

  • LW

    Luyao Wang

    Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences
    Shenzhen, Guangdong, China (People's Republic)

  • HL

    Hongbo Li

    Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences
    Shenzhen, Guangdong, China (People's Republic)

  • YK

    Yuhang Ke

    Nanjing Agricultural University
    Nanjing, Jiangsu, China (People's Republic)

  • PZ

    Ping Zhu

    Nanjing Agricultural University
    Nanjing, Jiangsu, China (People's Republic)

  • YL

    Yuying Li

    Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences
    Shenzhen, Guangdong, China (People's Republic)

  • HL

    Haohao Liu

    Nanjing Agricultural University
    Nanjing, Jiangsu, China (People's Republic)

  • YL

    Yajie Li

    Nanjing Agricultural University
    Nanjing, Jiangsu, China (People's Republic)

  • SZ

    Shaoqun Zhou

    Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences
    Shenzhen, Guangdong, China (People's Republic)

  • SD

    Savithramma P. Dinesh-Kumar

    College of Biological Sciences, University of California, Davis
    Davis, California, United States

    • Presenting Author(s)

  • SD

    Suomeng Dong

    Nanjing Agricultural University
    Nanjing, Jiangsu, China (People's Republic)

    • Author(s)

  • SH

    Sanwen Huang

    Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences
    Shenzhen, Guangdong, China (People's Republic)

Abstract Text: Potato late blight, caused by the pathogen Phytophthora infestans and responsible for the Irish Potato Famine, remains a significant threat to global food security. Most late blight resistance (R) genes encode nucleotide-binding domain and leucine-rich repeat (NLR) proteins. However, the currently available arsenal of R genes is insufficient due to the emergence of highly adaptive P. infestans isolates that overcome R genes used in breeding programs. Hybrid potato breeding is transforming from a slow, non-accumulative mode into a fast, iterative one, providing an opportunity to counteract pathogen evolution by deploying R genes. Here, we report constructing a section-wide NLRome consisting of 39,211 NLR genes by analyzing the genomes of 31 wild and 21 cultivated potato accessions. These accessions represent the Solanum section Petota, the tuber-bearing clade, among which seven wild species with strong late blight resistance were sequenced here. Phylogenomic analysis reveals asymmetric evolutionary patterns that distinguish sensor and helper NLRs. Three new R genes against P. infestans are cloned through various strategies. We propose a domain “plug-in” strategy to engineer disease resistance in potatoes. Our findings described here provide insights into the evolution and functions of potato NLRs and offer a paradigm for new R gene discovery using comparative and evolutionary genomics.