Occurrence of the R1 allele conferring resistance to late blight in potato R-gene differentials and commercial cultivars

A total of 23 Scottish and 14 Dutch potato R-gene differentials as well as five Austrian, two Dutch and two German commercial potato cultivars were screened for the R1 allele conferring resistance to Phytophthora infestans carrying Avr1, via PCR amplification and sequencing. A single 1400 bp fragment with complete sequence identity to the corresponding part of the R1 allele, was obtained from genomic DNA of all potato R-gene differential clones whose denomination indicates R1 or a combination of R1 and other major resistance factors. The R1 allele was detected, as expected, in all these clones. This fragment also occurred in one Austrian and one German cultivar. Unexpectedly, the same R1 allele also was detected within all R5, R6 and R9 differentials.