"By combining these effective genes we can prolong the longevity of individual resistances to the disease and reduce the need for chemical sprays on plants"

Potatoes have been a staple of Britain’s diet for half a millennium, but new research suggests that limited genetic differences in potato lineages has left British and American spuds vulnerable to the disease that caused the Irish potato famine.

Plant scientists at the James Hutton Institute and the University of Dundee have revealed that commercial potato crops are under constant threat of late blight, the pathogen behind one of Europe’s most devastating famines, but wild potato genes might be the cure.

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This article was originally posted by The James Hutton Institute