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• 1 2016-02-17T13:03:42-08:00 Potato Blight 9 plain 2016-03-07T12:46:15-08:00 The Potato Blight
  
  The Potato Blight
  
  Phytophthora infestans originated in the Toluca Valley in Mexico after Europeans began colonizing the Americas. The strain which caused havoc in Ireland was not isolated until 2013 in a study, “The rise and fall of the Phytophthora infestans lineage that triggered the Irish potato famine,” which mapped the offending strain’s genotype from historical plant sources. Although the strain, “HERB-1,” which caused the famine in Ireland died out in the early 20th Century, as Yoshida et al. conclude in their study, another strain, US-1, continues to harm crops around the world to this day, though to a less drastic extent than was seen during the famine.  
  Works Cited
  
  Caldwell, Roy, et al. “Monoculture and the Irish Potato Famine: cases of missing genetic
  variation.” Understanding Evolution. 2016. University of California Museum of
  Paleontology. Web. 3 March 2016.
  
  Landsburg, Steven E. “Putting All Your Potatoes in One Basket: The economic lessons of the
  Great Famine.” Slate. The Slate Group, March 13, 2001. Web. 7 March, 2016.
  Reader, John. Potato: A History of the Propitious Esculent. Conneticut: Yale UP, 2009.
  
  Steadman, Ian. “Mystery Irish Potato Famine pathogen identified 170 years later.” Wired.
  21 May 2013. Web. 4 March 2016.
  
  Yoshida, Kentaro, et al. “The rise and fall of the Phytophthora infestans lineage that
  triggered the Irish potato famine.” eLife. 2013; 2:e00731. May 28, 2013. Web. 4
  March 2016.