Phytophthora infestans

Phytophthora infestans
	Symptom of late blight on the underside of a potato leaf
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Clade:	Diaphoretickes
Clade:	SAR
Clade:	Stramenopiles
Phylum:	Oomycota
Order:	Peronosporales
Family:	Peronosporaceae
Genus:	Phytophthora
Species:	P. infestans
Binomial name
	Phytophthora infestans; (Mont.) de Bary

Phytophthora infestans is an oomycete or water mold, a fungus-like microorganism that causes the serious potato and tomato disease known as late blight or potato blight. Early blight, caused by Alternaria solani, is also often called "potato blight". Late blight was a major culprit in the 1840s European, the 1845–1852 Irish, and the 1846 Highland potato famines. The organism can also infect some other members of the Solanaceae.^[1]^[2]^[3] The pathogen is favored by moist, cool environments: sporulation is optimal at 12–18 °C (54–64 °F) in water-saturated or nearly saturated environments, and zoospore production is favored at temperatures below 15 °C (59 °F). Lesion growth rates are typically optimal at a slightly warmer temperature range of 20 to 24 °C (68 to 75 °F).^[4]

^ Chand, Sudeep (9 September 2009), Killer genes cause potato famine, BBC News, retrieved 26 September 2009
^ Nowicki, Marcin; et al. (17 August 2011), "Potato and tomato late blight caused by Phytophthora infestans: An overview of pathology and resistance breeding", Plant Disease, 96 (1), American Phytopathological Society: 4–17, doi:10.1094/PDIS-05-11-0458, PMID 30731850
^ Nowicki, Marcin; et al. (11 October 2013), "Late Blight of Tomato", Translational Genomics for Crop Breeding, pp. 241–65, doi:10.1002/9781118728475.ch13, ISBN 978-1-118-72847-5, S2CID 83142160
^ Haverkort, A. J.; Struik, P. C.; Visser, R. G. F.; Jacobsen, E (2009), "Applied biotechnology to combat late blight in potato caused by Phytophthora infestans", Potato Research (Submitted manuscript), 52 (3): 249–64, doi:10.1007/s11540-009-9136-3, S2CID 2850128

[bbc_news-1] Chand, Sudeep (9 September 2009), Killer genes cause potato famine, BBC News, retrieved 26 September 2009

[PlDis2011-2] Nowicki, Marcin; et al. (17 August 2011), "Potato and tomato late blight caused by Phytophthora infestans: An overview of pathology and resistance breeding", Plant Disease, 96 (1), American Phytopathological Society: 4–17, doi:10.1094/PDIS-05-11-0458, PMID 30731850

[Wiley2013-3] Nowicki, Marcin; et al. (11 October 2013), "Late Blight of Tomato", Translational Genomics for Crop Breeding, pp. 241–65, doi:10.1002/9781118728475.ch13, ISBN 978-1-118-72847-5, S2CID 83142160

[4] Haverkort, A. J.; Struik, P. C.; Visser, R. G. F.; Jacobsen, E (2009), "Applied biotechnology to combat late blight in potato caused by Phytophthora infestans", Potato Research (Submitted manuscript), 52 (3): 249–64, doi:10.1007/s11540-009-9136-3, S2CID 2850128

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