Through their research, a team of potato plant scientists have taken major leaps in how we know potato plants’ defense mechanisms. They’re fighting against Spongospora subterranea f. sp. subterranea (Sss), a vicious pathogen that wreaks havoc on potato crops. This breakthrough will be of great help in developing effective control measures against two major potato diseases associated with Sss.
Sss is as much a blight on potato agriculture, as it is any of the affected species. It can linger in the soil for decades and is extremely difficult to control with traditional agricultural methods. Sss possesses peculiar behaviour that complicates its in vitro acquisition in laboratory conditions. This severe limitation poses immense difficulties for researchers to attempt to study it.
Samodya K. Jayasinghe and colleagues recently published an amazing study. They went on to invent a new model system that allowed them to get reliable infection outcomes in as little as 2-4 weeks. This rapid assessment method represents a significant advance over classic soil assays. Unlike those approaches, which require a number of months to yield results, this one provides faster insights. These new discoveries help explain the ways in which potato plants are able to raise their defenses against such a stubborn pathogen.
Further analysis using metabolomics approaches pointed to salicylic acid, or SA 3, as a major SAR player. As you might expect, it plays a key role in the plant’s defense response. The researchers found that Sss infects potato hairy roots, with significant symptoms visible after only four weeks of inoculation. We further verified the occurrence of Sss sporangia in the hairy root cortex. We were able to accomplish this by utilizing trypan blue staining and timing our observations at eight weeks post inoculation.
The implications of this research are profound. To create control measures for Sss, scientists are opening new fronts in their war against Sss. These actions will address the short-term danger posed by this pathogen while improving the long-term resilience of potato crops. The study’s findings were published in a paper with DOI: 10.1094/MPMI-12-24-0154-R, contributing valuable insights to the ongoing battle against potato diseases.
