Molecular Microbiology Research, 2025, Vol.15, No.2, 59-68 http://microbescipublisher.com/index.php/mmr 61 3.3 Case study: successful breeding programs focusing on early maturation Some breeding programs have successfully used this genetic knowledge to breed premature breeds. One of the most representative cases is the study of Zhongshu No. 5 (Z5) and Zhongshu No. 18 (Z18). Z5 is a premature variety, and Z18 is a late-mature variety. Through the grafting experiment, the researchers wanted to see if grafting has an impact on maturity time. They made several different grafting combinations. For example, Z5 is connected to Z18 (Z5/Z18), and Z5 is connected to Z5 (Z5/Z5). The leaves of these two groups began to turn yellow 80 days after the emergence of the seedlings. The two groups of leaves are still green and blooming. This shows that the variety of scion will affect the maturity of the plant after grafting (Figure 1). In addition to grafting experiments, the research team also performed RNA sequencing. They found that ABA (abscisic acid) and SA (salicylic acid) promote premature puberty, while IAA (indole-3-acetic acid) inhibit premature puberty (Chen et al., 2019). In addition, they also found that mRNAs that can be transported long distances are also related to premature maturity traits. These findings provide more clues to the molecular mechanism of premature puberty and also help develop suitable premature puberty varieties in different regions in the future. Another project was to study QTLs that are resistant to early blight, and they found that this area just overlaps with the QTLs that control maturation time (Xue et al., 2022). This suggests that disease resistance and maturation time may be related. These examples show that combining genetic markers and molecular techniques into breeding can more effectively breed premature potato varieties. Figure 1 The grafted plant maturity at 80 days after emergence (Adopted from Hui et al., 2022) Image caption: (a) Z5/Z18 grafted plant, early-maturing cultivar Z5 was grafted onto late-maturing cultivar Z18; (b) Z5/Z5 grafted plant, early-maturing cultivar Z5 was self-grafted; (c) Z18/Z5 grafted plant, late-maturing cultivar Z18 was grafted onto early-maturing cultivar Z5; (d) Z18/Z18 grafted plant, late-maturing cultivar Z18 was self-grafted (Adopted from Hui et al., 2022) 4 Enhancing Quality through Genetic Interventions 4.1 Traits defining high-quality potatoes High-quality potatoes have three benefits: good nutrition, good taste, and suitable for processing. From a nutritional point of view, good potatoes should be rich in carbohydrates, vitamin C, essential amino acids and minerals (Kumari et al., 2018). These nutrients are very important to the human body. From the perspective of eating, the taste and taste of potatoes are very important. Consumers prefer varieties with fragrant taste and soft taste. From a processing perspective, the size and shape of the tubers, whether they have a cold sweet taste, the type and quality of starch will affect the product effect after processing. In addition, some substances that are harmful to the human body, such as sugar alkaloids and acrylamide, should be minimized. This will make potatoes safer and healthier (Hameed et al., 2018; Bradshaw, 2019).
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