The Board for Plant Varieties in the Netherlands has officially granted plant breeders’ rights to a revolutionary new potato variety — a first of its kind to feature a skin transplant.
Developed using KeyGene’s proprietary 2S1® technique, this innovation is more than just a scientific marvel; it’s a glimpse into the future of crop breeding, according to a recent news release.
The 2S1® method allows breeders to create graft hybrids that are stable, high-performing, and imbued with a combination of desirable traits from different parent varieties. Imagine a potato whose skin offers drought tolerance or insect resistance — traits pulled from ancient, hardy varieties — while maintaining the high yield and quality of commercial staples like Bintje. That’s the magic of this new variety: it’s made by grafting the skin of Pimpernel onto the inner layers of Bintje, creating a plant that retains most of Bintje’s inner qualities but dons Pimpernel’s tough, advantageous skin.
“Making this happen has been an old breeding dream — turning natural grafting, which you might see in grafted fruit trees in ancient orchards, into a controlled, breeder-friendly technique,” says Jeroen Stuurman, a scientist at KeyGene and lead developer of 2S1®. “This method taps into natural genetic variation in a way that’s efficient, reliable, and opens a new avenue for customizing crop traits.”
The proof lies in the stability of the variety itself. After years of seed potato production, the plants grown from these seed potatoes faithfully preserve the unique combination of skin and inner cell layers — proof that the 2S1® hybridization can endure through generations, bringing durability to innovation.
CEO Roeland van Ham anticipates broad implications beyond potatoes. “This breakthrough isn’t limited to tubers,” he says. “It could revolutionize breeding in vegetatively propagated crops like fruit trees, berries, and even seed-propagated crops. It’s a faster, more effective way to develop varieties that meet the demands of sustainable food production.”
This recent recognition by the Netherlands marks a major milestone — not just for KeyGene but for the entire field of plant breeding. The rights granted are a “proof-of-concept”: a tangible example that this novel grafting approach can deliver market-ready varieties that combine traits from different plants in a cost-effective, time-saving manner.
As the world looks to sustainable agriculture and resilient food systems, innovations like the skin-transplant potato remind us that sometimes, the future of farming lies in reimagining natural processes — making history one graft at a time.
