Molecular characterization and biotechnological improvement of the processing quality of potatoes

Abstract

Fries, chips, starches, flakes, and frozen pre-cooked potatoes, such as hash browns, are currently the main products made from processed potatoes. The processing quality of potatoes is largely determined by the carbohydrates, such as starch and glucose, in their tubers. The quantitative inheritance, heritability variation, transgene pleiotropic effects, and storage condition requirement of the processing quality are partly due to the carbohydrate metabolic network plasticity in potatoes. Pathway partition of sugars influences the processing quality such as chip color. This presentation attempts to review traditionally separate but related aspects (i.e., genetics, breeding, genomics, metabolism, marker-assisted selection, and transgenic engineering) of the potato processing quality and to discuss the integrated approach to its genetic improvement. Key words: Solanum tuberosum L., French fries, chips, carbohydrate metabolism, dry matter content, cold sweetening tuber morphology, metabolic network, partition of sugars, gene expression profile, transgenic regulation