Department of Plant, Soil and Microbial Sciences MSU Potato Breeding and Genetics Program

Dr. David Douches is co-Director of Potato 2.0 (USDA/SCRI). Potato 2.0 is funded to address potato breeding constraints and our long-term goal is to convert potato (4x) into a diploid (2x) inbred-hybrid crop. New germplasm resources, coupled with improved methodologies in genomics and quantitative genetics, will allow us to reconstruct potato as a 2x crop amenable to breeding strategies analogous to those used to produce elite maize F1 hybrids. This change will accelerate breeding timelines, dramatically increasing the rate of cultivar improvement and the ability of potato breeders to meet the needs of consumers and the industry.

In July 2022, Dr. David Douches prepared a presentation for the European Association for Potato Research (EAPR) Conference held in Krakow, Poland that focuses on MSU contribution to the development of diploid germplasm.

You can view Douches presentation here:

• PSM Youtube Channel
• MSU MediaSpace

Highlights of the Presentation include:

• Overview of Potato Breeding Challenges
• Self Compatible Diploid Breeding
• MSU Germplasm base:  Dihaploids from cultivated 4x potato
• “Backcross” breeding to introgress self-compatibility (SC) into
  S. tuberosum dihaploids
• Self compatibility via S-RNase knockout
• Genomic resources for potato- genome assembly of DM1S