Images of flowers and tubers produced by potato recombinant inbred lines

Recombinant inbred line (RIL) populations are powerful mapping tools in
many crops but have not yet been created using cultivated potato
germplasm. We crossed the doubled monoploid cultivated clone DM 1-3 with
the self-compatible diploid inbred wild clone M6 to create a diploid F1
hybrid. One F1 plant was self-pollinated to generate a phenotypically
diverse F2 population, which was selfed to create 87 RILs. This is the
first report of a RIL population developed from a cultivated x wild hybrid
in potato. Poor fertility was a significant challenge in creating RILs.
Nevertheless, we generated inbred lines that ranged from high to low
fertility, vigor, and tuber production. F6 RILs ranged from 98% to 68%
homozygosity, based on 2884 SNP markers. Considering the phenotypic
variability between the two parents and among the RILs, we expect the RIL
population to be valuable for mapping traits important to the potato
industry.