Within this master thesis relevant problems like drought tolerance and storage in modern breeding of potatoes have been interrogated. Therefore the role of the ethylene signaling pathway in drought tolerance and tolerance to ethylene during storage has been investigated.

Two bulks comprising 34 respectively 14 varieties, ranked according to drought tolerance respectively storage-potential, were used to examine newly developed molecular SSR-markers. Many different compoments of the ethylene signaling pathway were examined and 18 markers showed polymorphic banding patterns. For one primer combination a significant association regarding drought tolerance has been detected.

In the future these data shall be used for further investigations in order to facilitate modern breeding of tetraploid potato varieties. As potatoes are a commodity of global interest similar investigations are a important resource for economically and scientifically profound plant breeding.
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Christoph Tim Krannich conducted this work at the Chair for Plant Genetics at Rostock University in the working group of Professor Dr. Renate Horn.