Netherlands: First transplanted skin potato variety receives plant breeder’s rights

This new variety is developed using KeyGene’s proprietary 2S1® technique for creating graft hybrids, showcasing the potential of this method. The 2S1 technique allows for the creation of superior and stable new varieties by combining desirable skin traits, such as drought tolerance and insect repellence from one variety, with high-yield traits from another.

KeyGene’s new 2S1 potato variety combines the skin of Pimpernel with the inner cell layers of Bintje.  This way, the variety retains most of the essential properties of Bintje but is supplemented with a suite of skin-related traits from Pimpernel, which are manifest on all above-ground plant parts plus the tubers.

The combination of Pimpernel skin and Bintje inner cells proves to be stable: after several years of seed potato production, the seed potatoes, the plants growing from the seed potatoes, and the potatoes produced by these plants faithfully maintain their unique combination of cell layers.

“We have made an old breeding dream finally come true by developing a skin-grafted potato variety. While this type of grafting is a rare natural phenomenon, sometimes seen to occur on grafted fruit trees in ancient orchards, our new 2S1 technology turns it into a rational technique to harness natural genetic variation for breeding purposes in an entirely new way.” said Jeroen Stuurman, distinguished scientist at KeyGene and lead developer of the 2S1® technology.

“We are thrilled to have achieved this breakthrough in plant breeding. It offers significant potential for the development of new varieties in vegetatively propagated crops, such as potato, fruit trees and berries, in a much shorter time frame. But we also see potential for new product concepts in seed-propagated crops. For all these crops, our technology can help address some of the toughest breeding challenges in sustainable food production,” Roeland van Ham, CEO of KeyGene adds.

The granting of Plant Breeders’ Rights by Board for Plant Varieties in the Netherlands proves that these skin-transplant varieties can be commercialized as new varieties.

The new variety is a ‘proof-of-concept’; it shows the potential of KeyGene’s 2S1 technique to develop novel varieties that can uniquely combine favorable traits from different parent lines in a cost- efficient way and a significantly reduced amount of time.