P-022 - Deletion of Parakletos Enhances Potato Stress Resilience

Thursday, July 17, 2025

13:30 - 15:15

Location: Confex Hall 3

Crop resistance genetics and genomics

Presenting Author(s)

MZ

Muhammad Awais Zahid

Department of Plant Protection Biology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
Alnarp, Skane Lan, Sweden

Author(s)

NK

Nam Phuong Kieu

Department of Plant Protection Biology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
Lomma, Skane Lan, Sweden
MK

Milla Karlsson

Department of Plant Protection Biology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
Lomma, Skane Lan, Sweden
FC

Frida Meijer Carlsen

Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, University of Copenhagen
Copenhagen, Hovedstaden, Denmark
ML

Marit Lenman

Department of Plant Protection Biology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
Lomma, Skane Lan, Sweden
NK

Naga Charan Konakalla

Department of Plant Protection Biology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
Lomma, Skane Lan, Sweden
HY

Huanjie Yang

Department of Plant Protection Biology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
Lomma, Skane Lan, Sweden
BP

Bent Larsen Petersen

Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, University of Copenhagen
Copenhagen, Hovedstaden, Denmark
SR

Svante Resjö

Department of Plant Protection Biology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
Lomma, Skane Lan, Sweden
EA

Erik Andreasson Andreasson

Department of Plant Protection Biology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
Lomma, Skane Lan, Sweden

Potato productivity is increasingly threatened by climate-driven stresses, including pathogens, salinity, and drought, highlighting the need for robust cultivars. Through quantitative proteomics, we identified Parakletos, a thylakoid-localized protein that enhances disease susceptibility; its knockout or silencing confers broad-spectrum partial resistance to oomycetes, fungi, bacteria, and abiotic stress, whereas overexpression compromises resilience. Upon flagellin challenge, Parakletos overexpression suppresses reactive oxygen species and Ca²⁺ signaling amplitudes, while silencing amplifies these responses. Field trials confirm that Parakletos deletion enhanced resistance to Phytophthora infestans and improves yield, underscoring its promise in low-input agriculture. Ongoing research aims to pinpoint Parakletos interaction partners since Parakletos itself does not have any known homologies to any proteins, evaluate knockout lines in elite potato cultivars across diverse locations, and characterize Arabidopsis and wheat homologs.