RNA-Seq of allotetraploid wild potato Solanum acaule and autotetraploid potato Solanum tuberosum cv. Atlantic

Potato wild relatives (Solanum section Petota) are a source of genetic diversity for improving traits in modern cultivars (S. tuberosum) to meet climate challenges. Potatoes are susceptible to multiple abiotic and biotic stresses and have undergone constant improvement through breeding programs worldwide. The allotetraploid S. acaule Bitter has been used to introgress cold tolerance into potato breeding germplasm. The cold challenged transcriptome of S. acaule was compared with that of autotetraploid S. tuberosum cv. Atlantic, and was found to have fewer differentially expressed genes than the latter. Specifically, subgenome 1 has less downregulated alleles compared to subgenome 2 and S. tuberosum. S. acaule (ACA) and S. tuberosum cv. Atlantic (ATL) plants underwent freezing exposure to compare transcription against control conditions. For freezing conditions (F), shoot explants were placed in a freezing growth chamber where the temperature gradually decreased from 22 °C to -4 °C at a rate of 2°C per hour. Long-day conditions were used as control (C). Three biological replicates were analyzed (F1-F3).