About Solanum bulbocastanum Dunal
Solanum bulbocastanum, commonly called ornamental nightshade, is a plant species belonging to the Solanaceae family. It is native to Mexico and parts of the southwestern United States. This species is closely related to the cultivated potato. Because it has naturally evolved strong resistance to all known varieties of potato blight, it has been used to genetically engineer blight resistance into cultivated potato varieties grown around the world. Genetic engineering is a useful approach for this trait transfer because traditional crossbreeding hybridization between S. bulbocastanum and cultivated potatoes has so far been unsuccessful, and somatic hybridization for gene transfer is also difficult. Resistance to the Columbia root-knot nematode Meloidogyne chitwoodi has been identified in S. bulbocastanum, and this resistance can be transferred to the cultivated potato.
