Scientists have decoded the DNA secrets of the notorious pathogen phytophthora infestans, or “potato blight”, which still costs the industry more than € 3 billion a year due to crop failures.
When comparing P. infestans with similar organisms in the same genus, stretches of the genome stood out as being highly variable, unusually large and full of transposons — sequences that make copies of themselves and jump around in the genome. The researchers believe that the transposons, which make up about 74% of this unusually unwieldy genome, code for the blight’s ‘weapons’ against potatoes.
P. infestans thrives in cool, wet weather, and can infect potatoes, tomatoes and other related plants, causing a “late blight” disease that can decimate entire fields in just a few days. Long considered a fungus, it is now known to be a member of the oomycetes or “water moulds”, which are more closely related to brown algae than to fungi.
Nature: Potato blight’s gene weaponry revealed
BBC: Potato famine blight DNA decoded
Science Daily: Purple Potato Boost For Organic Food Industry
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