Project Number: 5302-22000-010-19
Project Type: Reimbursable

Start Date: Feb 14, 2012
End Date: Dec 31, 2012

Objective:
1. Observe development of zebra chip in potato tubers from plants infected late season (< 2 wks. before harvest). 2. Determine how titers of CLso in infected tubers change over time in storage. 3. Relate changes in phenolic, amino acid, and carbohydrate compound levels to zebra chip symptoms and CLso titers.

Approach:
Collaborators from Texas AgriLife Research (Texas A&M University) will inoculate two different cultivars of potato and place into storage. After 0.5, 1, 2, and 3 months of storage, they will evaluate symptom development and harvest tubers to be used for chemical analyses. High performance liquid chromatography will be used on collected potato tuber samples to assess phenolic and carbohydrate levels, and gas chromatography will be used to assess amino acid levels. Quantitative PCR will be used to assess CLso titers. Univariate ANOVAs will determine which compounds are significantly increased in infected tubers compared to equivalent non-infected controls. Pearson’s or Spearman’s correlations, as appropriate, will find associations between chemistry, symptoms, CLso titers, and time in storage.