A machine learning algorithm for the automatic classification of Phytophthora infestans genotypes into clonal lineages

Abstract Premise The prompt categorization of Phytophthora infestans isolates into described clonal lineages is a key tool for the management of its associated disease, potato late blight. New isolates of this pathogen are currently classified by comparing their microsatellite genotypes with characterized clonal lineages, but an automated classification tool would greatly improve this process. Here, we developed a flexible machine learning–based classifier for P. infestans genotypes. Methods The performance of different machine learning algorithms in classifying P. infestans genotypes into its clonal lineages was preliminarily evaluated with decreasing amounts of training data. The four best algorithms were then evaluated using all collected genotypes. Results mlpML, cforest, nnet, and AdaBag performed best in the preliminary test, correctly classifying almost 100% of the genotypes. AdaBag performed significantly better than the others when tested using the complete data set (Tukey HSD P