Marker-assisted selection for Potato Virus Y resistance

Potato yield, quality and tuber seed production are seriously limited by Potato virus Y (PVY). Artificial inoculation under controlled conditions followed by DAS-ELISA is commonly used to screen for PVY resistance, but this method is very tedious and time consuming prohibiting the screening of large segregating populations. Efforts have been made to identify and genetically map resistance to PVY. The gene Ryadg from S. tuberosum ssp. andigena provides extreme resistance to PVY. This gene was mapped to chromosome XI and user-friendly PCR-based DNA markers linked to the gene have been developed. The objective of this work is to assess the usefulness of molecular markers for determining the allelic configuration at the Ryadg gene and as an early selection tool for predicting PVY resistance.