title: Exploring Folate Diversity in Wild and Primitive Potatoes for Modern Crop Improvement.
abstract: Malnutrition is one of the world's largest health concerns. Folate (also known as vitamin B₉) is essential in the human diet, and without adequate folate intake, several serious health concerns, such as congenital birth defects and an increased risk of stroke and heart disease, can occur. Most people's folate intake remains sub-optimal, even in countries that have a folic acid food fortification program in place. Staple crops, such as potatoes, represent an appropriate organism for biofortification through traditional breeding based on their worldwide consumption and the fact that modern cultivars only contain about 6% of the daily recommended intake of folate. To start breeding potatoes with enhanced folate content, high folate potato material must be identified. In this study, 250 individual plants from 77 accessions and 10 Solanum species were screened for their folate content using a tri-enzyme extraction and microbial assay. There was a 10-fold range of folate concentrations among individuals. Certain individuals within the species Solanum tuberosum subsp. andigenum, Solanum vernei and Solanum boliviense have the potential to produce more than double the folate concentrations of commercial cultivars, such as Russet Burbank. Our results show that tapping into the genetic diversity of potato is a promising approach to increase the folate content of this important crop.
authors.affiliation: Hermiston Agricultural Research and Extension Center, Oregon State University, Hermiston, OR 97838, USA. Bruce.Robinson@oregonstate.edu.|Department of Crop and Soil Science, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97330, USA. Bruce.Robinson@oregonstate.edu.
authors.forename: Bruce R
authors.initials: BR
authors.lastname: Robinson
authors.affiliation: Hermiston Agricultural Research and Extension Center, Oregon State University, Hermiston, OR 97838, USA. Vidyasagar@oregonstate.edu.|Department of Crop and Soil Science, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97330, USA. Vidyasagar@oregonstate.edu.
authors.forename: Vidyasagar
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Sathuvalli
authors.affiliation: USDA/Agricultural Research Service, Sturgeon Bay, WI 54235, USA. john.bamberg@ars.usda.gov.
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bamberg
authors.affiliation: Hermiston Agricultural Research and Extension Center, Oregon State University, Hermiston, OR 97838, USA. aymeric.goyer@oregonstate.edu.|Department of Botany and Plant Pathology, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97330, USA. aymeric.goyer@oregonstate.edu.
authors.forename: Aymeric
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Goyer
keywords: Solanum tuberosum; andigenum; biofortification; folate; potato; vernei; vitamin B9