Characterization of resistance to Synchytrium endobioticum in cultivated potato accessions from the collection of Vavilov Institute of Plant Industry

The causal agent of potato wart (Synchytrium endobioticum) is an obligate parasitic chytrid fungus. It is included as a quarantine pathogen in 55 countries, with losses in susceptible cultivars reaching 50–100%. The aim of our study was to characterize the resistance to S. endobioticum pathotype 1 in cultivated potatoes from a well-characterized subset of the Vavilov Institute of Plant Industry collection and to determine whether this resistance is associated with cultivated potato species taxonomy, with ploidy, with geographic distance or with a molecular marker Nl25-1400 proposed for molecular screening for resistance to pathotype 1 of S. endobioticum. Within the diversity of 52 landrace genotypes, our work shows a lack of such predictive associations with wart resistance. High intraspecific variation of wart diseases resistance allows the selection of extremely resistant and susceptible genotypes available for future genetic and breeding studies.