The ADAPT project (“Accelerated Development of multiple-stress tolerAnt PoTato”), which officially concluded on 28 October, has made substantial strides in improving the resilience of potatoes to environmental stresses.
Launched in July 2020, the project had a total budget of 5 million Euros from the EU Horizon 2020 program (No GA 2020 862-858). The international consortium worked diligently to develop strategies to prepare potatoes for the challenging growth conditions of the future, based on a detailed understanding of molecular processes related to stress acclimation.
A Collaborative International Effort
The ADAPT project united a team of ten leading academic research institutions, four potato breeders, a screening technology developer, a government agency, and a non-profit EU association. Together, they investigated the mechanisms underlying multi-stress resilience in potato. Their aim was to ensure that the potato could better withstand various environmental stresses, particularly heat and drought, which are becoming more common due to climate change.
The Urgency of Potato Stress Resilience
Potatoes are one of the world’s most important food crops. However, they face a major threat from environmental stresses, particularly heat, drought, and flooding, which can devastate entire harvests. Although there was existing knowledge on how model plants like Arabidopsis respond to multiple stresses, similar research in potatoes had been lacking. ADAPT aimed to fill this gap, providing insights into how potatoes cope with these increasingly prevalent conditions.
Key Achievements of the ADAPT Project
Over the course of four years, the ADAPT project made significant advancements, including:
- Understanding Potato Stress Acclimation
The project gained valuable insights into how potatoes react to heat, drought, and waterlogging, offering a better understanding of stress acclimation in potatoes. - Potato Stress Resilience
The team investigated how different potato genotypes handle combined abiotic stress under real-world field conditions, providing new data on the resilience of various potato varieties. - Advanced Phenotyping and Field Trials
High-throughput phenotyping and field trials were conducted using drones and environmental sensors, helping to refine the data on potato stress resilience. - Insights into Stress Adaptation in Potatoes
By monitoring critical growth stages and tuber formation, the project identified specific molecular responses and stress signatures, which can be explored in future breeding programs. - Powerful Data Analysis Pipelines
The project established robust analysis pipelines for processing large datasets from field trials and high-throughput studies across multiple commercial potato varieties. - Utilizing Knowledge Networks
The improved understanding of stress reactions has laid the foundation for fine-phenotyping and marker development, essential for future potato breeding programs.
Looking Ahead: Future Research and Applications
Dr. Markus Teige, leader of the ADAPT project and faculty member at the University of Vienna’s Faculty of Life Sciences, emphasized the importance of the interdisciplinary collaboration that was central to the project’s success.
“This combination of stress physiology, molecular plant breeding, technology development, bioinformatics, and the end-user perspective enabled us to tackle complex challenges and develop solutions grounded in the needs of the community and stakeholders,” Dr. Teige said. “This approach should be the model for future research aimed at creating more climate-resilient crops.”
The consortium is already working on follow-up proposals to train the next generation of researchers in this interdisciplinary field and to translate the research findings into practical applications, such as breeding programs and farmer recommendations.
For further details on the main outcomes of each project work package, visit the ADAPT website.
Source: ADAPT project
Image: Group picture of the entire consortium at the last project’s meeting held in Bonn on 29-30 May 2024.
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