Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada, As Represented by the Minister

Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada, As Represented by the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-food

Agri-food Canada

Dermot Roborg Lynch

Lawrence Michael Kawchuk

Frank Kulcsar

John David Armstrong

John Hachey

Norman Richard Knowles

The invention provides tomato polynucleotides which, when transformed into a plant, confer on the plant resistance to Verticillium species. The polynucleotides of the invention are useful for producing transgenic plants that are resistant to Verticillium species.

Tomato nucleic acid sequences that confer resistance to Verticillium and plants transformed therewith

Potato plants which exhibit reduced levels of .alpha. glucan L-type tuber phosphorylase (GLTP) or .alpha. glucan H-type tuber phosphorylase (GHTP) enzyme activity within the potato tuber are provided. The conversion of starches to sugars in potato tubers, particularly when stored at temperatures below 7.degree. C., is reduced in tubers exhibiting reduced GLTP or GHTP enzyme activity. Reducing cold-sweetening in potatoes allows for potato storage at cooler temperatures, resulting in prolonged dormancy, reduced incidence of disease, and increased storage life. Methods for producing potato plants which produce tubers exhibiting reduced GLTP or GHTP enzyme activity are also provided. Reduction of GLTP or GHTP activity within the potato tuber may be accomplished by such techniques as suppression of gene expression using homologous antisense RNA, the use of co-suppression, regulatory silencing sequences, chemical and protein inhibitors, or the use of site-directed mutagenesis or the isolation of alternative alleles to obtain GLTP or GHTP variants with reduced starch affinity or activity.

Potatoes having improved quality characteristics and methods for their

Growing community of inventors

Lethbridge, Canada

Dermot Roborg Lynch