Inheritance of resistance in Solanum nigrum to Phytophthora infestans

Solanum nigrum, black nightshade, is a wild non-tuber bearing hexaploid species with a high level of resistance to Phytophthora infestans (Colon et al. 1993), the causal agent of potato late blight, the most devastating disease in potato production. However, the genetic mode of resistance in S. nigrum is still poorly understood. In the present study, two S. nigrum accessions, 984750019 (N19) and #13, resistant (R) and susceptible (S), respectively, to three different isolates of P. infestans, were sexually crossed. The various kinds of progeny including F1, F2, F3, and backcross populations (BC(1); F1 x S), as well as two populations produced by self-pollinating the R parent and S parent, were each screened for susceptibility to P. infestans isolate MP 324 using detached leaf assays. Fifty seedling plant individuals of the F1 progeny were each resistant to this specific isolate, similarly to the seedling plants resulting from self-pollination of the resistant R parent. Thirty seedling plants obtained from self-pollination of the S parent were susceptible. Among a total of 180 F2 plants, the segregation ratio between resistant and susceptible plants was approximately 3: 1. Among the 66 seedling plants of the BC(1) progeny originating from crossing an F1 plant with the susceptible S parent, there were 26 susceptible and 40 resistant plants to P. infestans. The segregation patterns obtained indicated monogenic dominant inheritance of resistance to P. infestans isolate MP 324 in S. nigrum acc. 984750019. This gene, conferring resistance to P. infestans, may be useful for the transformation of potato cultivars susceptible to late blight.