Tuber dormancy and sprouting are commercially important potato traits as long-term tuber storage is necessary to ensure year-round availability. Premature dormancy release and sprout growth in tubers during storage can result in a significant deterioration in product quality. In addition, the main chemical sprout suppressant chlorpropham has been withdrawn in Europe, necessitating alternative approaches for controlling sprouting. Breeding potato cultivars with longer dormancy and slower sprout growth is a desirable goal, although this must be tempered by the needs of the seed potato industry, where dormancy break and sprout vigour are required for rapid emergence. We have performed a detailed genetic analysis of tuber sprout growth using a diploid potato population derived from two highly heterozygous parents. A dual approach employing conventional QTL analysis allied to a combined bulk-segregant analysis (BSA) using a novel potato whole-exome capture (WEC) platform was evaluated. Tubers were assessed for sprout growth in storage at six time-points over two consecutive growing seasons. Genetic analysis revealed the presence of main QTL on five chromosomes, several of which were consistent across two growing seasons. In addition, phenotypic bulks displaying extreme sprout growth phenotypes were subjected to WEC sequencing for performing BSA. The combined BSA and WEC approach corroborated QTL locations and served to narrow the associated genomic regions, while also identifying new QTL for further investigation. Overall, our findings reveal a very complex genetic architecture for tuber sprouting and sprout growth, which has implications both for potato and other root, bulb and tuber crops where long-term storage is essential.

块茎休眠和发芽是具有重要商业价值的马铃薯性状，因为必须长期储存块茎才能确保全年供应。贮藏期间块茎过早休眠释放和发芽会导致产品质量显着下降。此外，主要的化学发芽抑制剂氯苯胺灵已在欧洲撤回，因此需要采用替代方法来控制发芽。培育休眠时间更长、发芽速度更慢的马铃薯品种是一个理想的目标，尽管这必须根据种薯行业的需求进行调整，因为马铃薯种业需要打破休眠和发芽活力才能快速出苗。我们使用源自两个高度杂合亲本的二倍体马铃薯种群对块茎芽生长进行了详细的遗传分析。评估了采用传统 QTL 分析与使用新型马铃薯全外显子组捕获 (WEC) 平台的联合批量分离分析 (BSA) 的双重方法。在两个连续的生长季节中，在六个时间点评估块茎在储存中的发芽生长。遗传分析显示主要 QTL 存在于 5 条染色体上，其中一些在两个生长季节中是一致的。此外，对显示极端芽生长表型的表型块进行 WEC 测序以执行 BSA。BSA 和 WEC 相结合的方法证实了 QTL 位置，并有助于缩小相关的基因组区域，同时还确定了新的 QTL 以供进一步研究。总的来说，我们的研究结果揭示了一个非常复杂的块茎发芽和芽生长的遗传结构，