Zahid, Muhammad Awais
- Department of Plant Protection Biology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
Abstract
Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) yield is highly sensitive to drought stress, yet robust phenotyping methods for drought tolerance remain scarce. To address this challenge, we present a rapid, high-throughput hydroponic assay designed as an efficient pre-screening tool for evaluating potato cultivars and CRISPR-edited lines. This protocol serves as a foundational screen, enabling researchers to identify the most promising genotypes before committing resources to more extensive soil or field trials. The system uses repurposed pipette tip boxes as low-cost, scalable hydroponic units, making the method highly accessible. Over a five-week period, plantlets are subjected to controlled 24-hr osmotic stress with polyethylene glycol (PEG-6000) and then assessed for resilience based on biomass, photosynthetic measurements, and visual recovery. This resource-efficient assay provides a controlled environment to minimize experimental noise and has been successfully applied to characterize CRISPR-edited potato lines. By providing a reproducible platform for initial evaluation, this protocol accelerates the selection pipeline for developing robust potato varieties for a changing climate. (c) 2025 The Author(s). Current Protocols published by Wiley Periodicals LLC.Basic Protocol 1: Preparation of stem explants and in vitro rootingBasic Protocol 2: Assembly and maintenance of tip-box hydroponic unitsBasic Protocol 3: PEG-induced drought treatment and recoveryBasic Protocol 4: Post-stress phenotypic, biomass, and photosynthetic analysis
Keywords
abiotic stress screening; CRISPR; drought tolerance; high-throughput phenotyping; potato (Solanum tuberosum)
Published in
Current protocols
2025, volume: 5, number: 7, article number: e70180
Publisher: WILEY
SLU Authors
Phuong, Nam Kieu
- Department of Plant Protection Biology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
- Department of Plant Protection Biology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
UKÄ Subject classification
Genetics and Breeding in Agricultural Sciences
Publication identifier
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/cpz1.70180
Permanent link to this page (URI)
https://res.slu.se/id/publ/143201