Genetic Researchers Eye Idaho Potatoes

As Idaho’s famous potato enters the 21st Century, it may be dressed with something more than the same old sour cream and chives--a new genetic identity.

Scientists at the University of Idaho’s Aberdeen Research and Extension Center are taking the first steps toward weaving new genes into the potato’s molecular tapestry.

Their super spud would have enhanced consumer appeal, increased grower profitability and reduced environmental impact.

“The potato is going to change. It’s changing now,” said Bill Belknap, a plant physiologist with the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service.

The tuber of the future will be rugged. It will ward off viruses and bruises, withstand drought and even carry natural toxins to kill the insects used to feasting on it.

“We’re trying to alter the genetic makeup and still make it normal in all other respects,” said Dennis Corsini, a research plant pathologist in Aberdeen. “It’s all designed to produce a crop more efficiently.”

The idea of genetically altered food may make consumers leery. But if done successfully, it could put the potatoes currently lost to insects and disease on the dinner table.

Although genetic alterations are fairly new for Idaho’s No. 1 crop, they have been conducted for some time on plants like tobacco and tomatoes (though consumers have not exactly applauded the results in tomatoes).

Because the commercial end of the spud, the tuber, is produced on an annual cycle, the researchers have only one chance each year to transform and then review it.

“It’s terrifying,” Belknap said. “Spring comes whether you’re ready or not. . . . You only get one shot per year.”

Belknap and colleagues--”gene jockeys,” he calls them--have added two additional “marker” genes this year to several varieties of potatoes. One resists a certain drug and the other contains a specific enzyme. They will not change the potato as much as show a genetic change has taken place.

Belknap applies agro-bacteria containing the genetic signal to the host potato’s tissue. The bacteria create a “disorganized tissue,” or gall, as the new genes meld with the plant’s molecular DNA ladder.

“The genes it puts in are so cute, you wouldn’t believe it,” Belknap said. “It’s how Mother Nature does it.”

If the initial experiments turn out well this year, Corsini and research geneticist Joe Pavek will cross the altered plants, called “constructs,” with standard varieties like Aberdeen’s Lemhi Russet in 1991.

Then the new hybrids will be tested for quality and yield characteristics. Researchers will then start tinkering to improve their stamina in the field and storage bin.

One identified gene could make the potatoes resistant to black spots, those ugly bruises beneath the skin. Other genes would fight soft rot or leafroll virus. Potatoes could even be designed to accommodate the droughts plaguing the West.

Yet another gene would create a toxin fatal to the Colorado potato beetle. Coast producers now spray their fields five times a year to combat it, Corsini said.

Other potato problems are harder to eradicate, Belknap said. It would require an extensive genetic overhaul to prevent “sugar end,” or the migration of carbohydrates to one end of the tuber. French fry producers reject those potatoes because the sugar turns dark brown when it hits the cooking oil.

But success could mean the demise of Idaho’s world-renowned baker--the Russet Burbank that makes up 40% of the potato acreage in the country. It is pollen-sterile and cannot be used as a parent plant, so it probably will not be genetically crossed, and someday a potato boasting super genes could take its place on top of the heap.

The Agriculture Department’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service oversees the tests and requires a long paper trail of applications before permits are granted.