Abstract
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 wellcharacterized
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.