Transcriptome of Russet Norkotah and its clonal selection, TXNS278

Julien Levy, Cecilia Tamborindeguy, Giridhar Athrey, Douglas C. Scheuring, Jeffrey W. Koym, J. Creighton Miller

Potato has a large genetic diversity. This diversity is in part due to somaclonal variability that appears within potato selections for which tubers are used as seeds. However, the potato tetraploid genome, as well as the use of tubers for crop propagation, does not allow for easy genetic studies. The objective is to gain knowledge at the genomic level from standard Russet Norkotah and a subclonal Russet Norkotah selection TXNS278. In this report, we used RNA-seq, which allows genome-wide gene expression analysis to sequence the transcriptomes of the subclonal Russet Norkotah selection TXNS278 with standard Russet Norkotah grown in commercial fields. Among the selections, TXNS278 appeared in a multi-year analysis in Texas as a top No 1 yielding variety. Russet Norkotah and TXNS278 leaf and root transcriptomes were sequenced at two time points during growing season.