Targeted Innovation in the UK Seed Potato Industry to Improve Productivity and Quality

土豆是英国最大的蔬菜类别，每年生产500万至600万吨，价值约11亿英镑。生产相对稳定，但价格和供应不稳定，潜在问题包括天气影响以及与之相关的疾病。马铃薯的细菌病原体尤其会因病害造成重大损失，导致损害和不符合市场规格。对英国和更广泛的欧洲工业，特别是对高级种子生产特别重要的是黑腿病（主要由乳酸菌引起）；对英国每年5000万英镑的总损失和全球7.5亿英镑的损失负责。黑腿病通过种子繁殖系统传播，是导致种子降级和拒收的主要原因（估计成本为每吨100英镑），以及整个行业中块茎软腐病的下游损失。该项目建立在之前英国创新研究的基础上，其中新型，高度特异性和安全的噬菌体（自然产生的抗菌剂）的组合已经制定了针对黑腿病原体。这些研究得出的结论是，该技术的主要商业价值是与高档种子产业合作，试图最大限度地减少种子污染，保护下游产业的马铃薯种子健康，并为种子生产商增加竞争优势，以争夺欧盟内外（特别是英国脱欧后）更大的新出口市场。先前的研究还得出结论，黑腿病控制的评估应该是一种双重方法，既记录患病植物，也记录收获块茎的细菌污染，作为衡量它们将疾病传播给后代的可能性的方法。拟议项目的主要目标是跟踪连续几代的高级别种子（来自清洁的田间第一代库存），在种植时（针对种子污染）和整个生长季节（针对环境病源）施用噬菌体处理。此外，将进行修改和优化初始噬菌体混合物的工作，以考虑到新的，正在出现的黑腿病原体。101907项目现有的商业主导的财团将由两个新的研究伙伴（詹姆斯·赫顿研究所和莱斯特大学）进一步加强，带来创新的方法来解决噬菌体特异性和作用模式的问题。鉴于该疾病对该行业的影响，该项目提供了一个非常及时和创新的机会。迄今为止，牵头申请人已经在开发该技术方面取得了重大进展，拟议的项目将进一步降低该技术的风险，使财团能够在项目后尽可能有效地最大化商业化机会。”

"Potatoes are the UK's largest vegetable category, producing 5-6 million tonnes p.a. valued at approximately £1.1bn. Production is relatively stable but prices and supply are volatile, with underlying issues including weather effects and related to these, disease. Bacterial pathogens of potatoes in particular are responsible for substantial losses through disease, leading to damage and failure to meet market specifications. Of particular importance to the UK and wider European industry, especially for high-grade seed production is blackleg (caused mainly by _Pectobacterium_ bacteria); responsible for \>£50M UK total losses p.a. and £750M worldwide. Blackleg is transmitted through the seed-multiplication system and is a major cause of seed downgrading and rejections (at an estimated cost of £100/tonne), together with downstream losses from tuber soft rot across the wider industry sectors.This project builds on previous Innovate UK research in which combinations of novel, highly-specific and safe bacteriophage (naturally-occurring antimicrobials) have been formulated to target blackleg pathogens. These studies have concluded that the main commercial value of the technology is working with the high-grade seed industry, attempting to minimise seed contamination, safeguarding seed potato health for the industry downstream and adding a competitive advantage to the seed producers to compete for larger and new export markets, both within and outside of the EU (particularly post Brexit). Previous work also concluded that the assessment of blackleg controls should be a two-fold approach, recording both diseased plants and also, bacterial contamination of harvested tubers as a measure of their likelihood of transmitting disease to subsequent generations.Key objectives of the proposed project are to follow successive generations of high-grade seed (from clean, field-generation 1 stocks), applying bacteriophage treatments both at planting (targeting seed contamination) and foliar applications throughout the growing season (targeting environmental disease sources). Also, work will be carried out to modify and optimise the initial bacteriophage mix to take into account new, emerging blackleg pathogens. The existing business-led consortium from project 101907 will be further strengthened by two new research partners (James Hutton Institute and University of Leicester), bringing innovative approaches to inform questions of both bacteriophage specificity and mode-of-action.The project addresses a very timely and innovative opportunity given the impact of the disease on the industry. The Lead Applicant has already made significant progress in exploiting the technology to date and the proposed project would further de-risk the technology, allowing the consortium to maximise commercialisation opportunities post project as effectively as possible."