Towards the isolation of resistance genes by transposon targeting in potato

A general strategy for the isolation of disease resistance genes is presented, employing a two-step approach of transposon targeting near genes of interest followed by transposon tagging. A library of transposon (Ac/Ds) transformants in a self fertile potato diploid are being mapped by deriving genomic DNA probes flanking the transposon containing T-DNA insertions with the inverse polymerase chain reaction and using these probes for RFLP analysis. We have produced a large number of transposon (Ac/Ds) transformants in a self fertile potato diploid. Genomic DNA probes, flanking the transposon containing T-DNA insertions, are produced by the inverse polymerase chain reaction (IPCR) and mapped by restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis in a segragating potato location. A transposon mapped close to a resistance gene can be recombined cis to the gene and used for efficient transposon targeting due to preferential transposition to linked sites.