Wild Potatoes: A Genetic Reservoir for Potato Breeding

Abstract Wild potatoes represent a large genetic reservoir for potato breeding with current use and potential to provide countless genes for novel traits, and resistances for abiotic and biotic stresses not found in commercial cultivars. Screening of germplasm conserved at genebanks for desirable traits are largely documented and some traits have been successfully introgressed into modern potato cultivars. We provide a comprehensive revision on current and potential uses of wild potatoes for breeding organized in three major topics: commercial traits, resistance for abiotic stresses (frost, drought, heat, salinity), and resistance for biotic stresses (bacterial, fungal and viral diseases, and insects and nematodes pests). Hurdles to overcome and unlock the full potential of potato wild relatives for potato breeding are briefly summarized. Finally, the promising future of wild potatoes in breeding is discussed, since there is no other crop that has such a diversity of wild relatives in its gene pool as potatoes. The increasing accessibility and developing of new biotechnological techniques facilitated and expanded the potential of using wild potatoes for breeding the cultivated potato and the use of wild relatives is more promising than ever.