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POSTERS: Postharvest Pathology II

P-570 - Investigating the Relationship Between Wound Suberin Deposition and Resistance to Soft rot (Pectobacterium spp.) in Potato Tubers.

Tuesday, August 5, 2025
10:15 AM - 11:00 AM HST
Location: Exhibit Hall 3
Abstract Text:

Potato (Solanum tuberosum) is the third most-consumed food crop in the world grown in roughly 130 countries. As much as 50% of the annual tuber crop is lost due to postharvest issues like wounding, bruising, and attack by destructive pathogens such as soft rots (Pectobacterium spp.). Suberization is critical for many aspects of potato physiology that impact tuber quality, storability, and by extension, yield. Potato tubers, unlike seeds, are not dormant propagules and must heal their wounds during early storage in order to be safely stored. This curing, or “skin set” process facilitates suberization of wound sites and fortification of the native periderm, without which long-term storage would not be possible. Suberin itself has inherent antimicrobial properties however the molecular and biochemical interactions between suberizing cells and pathogens such as soft rot are not well characterized. Furthermore, the transcriptional programs underlying wound suberin synthesis are only recently beginning to be understood. Transcriptomics, targeted metabolomics, and pathogen assays were employed to better understand the molecular genetics underlying wound suberization and interactions between soft rots and wound healing in potato tubers. Future endeavors include understanding the role of suberin-regulating transcription factors in defense against soft rots. Moreover, given that suberin is well conserved throughout the plant kingdom, we anticipate that our results will have wide utility for crop improvement in numerous crops that undergo postharvest storage.