Brief Summary of Minutes of Annual Meeting

The 2009 annual meeting was held Tuesday August 11 from 8:30 AM to 12:00 PM on the campus of the Pennsylvania State University. Dr. Richard Marini, Head of the Department of Agriculture, welcomed the committee and made a brief presentation about the history of the Pennsylvania State University and the Department of Agriculture. Dr. Tom Burr then introduced himself as the Administrative Advisor of the NE-09 and Director of the NYSAES. Dr. Burr informed the committee that the budget of $208,000 was approved this March but mentioned that there are still some states questioning the use of off-the-top funding. He also mentioned that Cornell University is going through changes and that there will be mergers of departments, which will affect plant breeding at NYSAES. Dr. Majid Foolad was host for the committee this year and made arrangements for the meeting and the afternoon visits to vegetable and fruit research at the Horticulture Research Farm in Rock Springs, PA. Phil Forsline, Larry Robertson, Joanne Labate, and Heidi Schwaninger made brief presentations about the activities and research for the past year and referred to the RL report for NE9 for further details. Majid Foolad presented a report on his work with fresh market and processing tomato with early blight, late blight, and high lycopene; both conventional and molecular breeding research. If his report Joseph Goffreda mentioned his research with Kazakhstan apples and that he wasnt spraying them. Brent Loy discussed his work with high dry matter with butternut squash and reported developing some with a Brix of 12-14%. He mentioned he was able to reach 18% in acorn squash. Phillip Griffiths briefly discussed his research with African collards and block rot resistance and mentioned his work with resistant beans (W6). He also discussed research with pigmented radish from the collection at Geneva and his work with tomato color and shape. Barbara Liedl made brief presentation on her work with greenhouse tomatoes (late blight, whitefly and aphid resistance), melons and peppers, and with sustainable and organic growers (including grafting tomatoes for high tunnel organic production). Mark Bridgen made brief presentation on the Cornell Long Island Horticultural Research and Extension Center and the resources available for research and extension. The meeting adjourned for lunch at 12 PM. After lunch the group visited the Horticultural Research Station in Rock Springs, PA where Dr. Foolad presented vegetable research, Dr. Crassweller presented research on tree fruits, and Dr. Demchak discussed research with small fruits.

Seed regenerations of vegetable Brassicas, tomatoes, wild tomatoes, tomatillos, celery, artichokes, radish, onion, buckwheat, and Cucurbits in 2008 were completed for 367 accessions and 58 accessions were grown for plants to store for seed production in 2009. For 2009, seed regenerations will total 325 accessions and 254 accessions will be grown for plants to store for seed production in 2010. In addition to standard regeneration activity; 84 Allium cepa accessions were sent to New Mexico State University for regeneration, 9 tomatoes were grown out for demonstrational /outreach purposes, 24 tomatoes were grown for an in-house molecular study to test genetic and phenotypic similarities and differences of 3 currently inactive tomatoes with the same Top Plant ID (San Marzano, Marglobe, and Baltimore), and 23 Orange Chatham tomatoes were grown out for identification purposes. A total of 12,462 accessions of seed-propagated crops were successfully maintained during the past year. The future availability of this germplasm is therefore assured.

Approximately 365 scanned and/or digital images were recorded in 2009 from 178 accessions of tomato, onion and winter squash grown for regeneration purposes. There were 441 scanned images recorded in 2008 from 141 accessions of tomato, onion and winter squash. These images are being processed and uploaded to GRIN as they become re-sized and named according to GRIN SOP. Characterization data were recorded on 144 accessions in 2008 and will be conducted on 138 accessions in the 2009 growing season for onion and tomatos minimal descriptor listings. These descriptors will then be uploaded to GRIN to enable stakeholders to better search for their research requirements. In addition to standard characterization and evaluation activity; 44 tomato accessions are being grown for analysis and characterization with cooperator Margaret McGrath and the Long Island Horticultural Research and Extension Center.

In 2008 and continuing in 2009 tomato images were analyzed using the Tomato Analyzer software created by Esther van der Knaap et al. at the Department of Horticulture and Crop Science at Ohio State University. The Tomato Analyzer software is quickly becoming the standard for fruit morphological characterization. The Tomato Analyzer application provides accurate and objective measurements of fruit shape in a high-throughput manner, as well as for traits that are nearly impossible to quantify manually.

A total of 308 orders for 3,540 seed germplasm samples and 362 orders for 10,510 samples of apple, grape and cherry germplasm were filled for clients and stakeholders in Calendar Year 2008. In 2009, through July 31, there were 263 orders for 2,510 seed germplasm samples and 107 orders for 1634 samples of apple and grape germplasm. A large number of these samples were distributed in the northeast. For 2008, 410 seed and 5,504 clonal samples for 53 seed and 118 clonal orders were distributed to users in the states that are part of NE-9. For 2009, through July 31, there were 414 seed and 691 clonal samples for 48 seed and 47 clonal orders distributed to the NE9 region. Most of the samples of the clonal collection were for DNA and leaf samples for DNA extraction, but multiple samples of cuttings, pollen and seeds of wild species as well were sent. Delivery of germplasm to clients and stakeholders is the primary way in which the results of this Units activities are distributed to the public.

955 Grape SSR fingerprints at eight loci (loaded into GRIN last year  15,280 data points) are being validated by fingerprinting the second vine per accession. This process is about 95% complete and will add another nearly 15,280 data points. The fingerprints of the first and second vine will be compared. Redundant fingerprints will be investigated when the vines are in fruit. Diversity will be analyzed to discover gaps or overrepresentation. Wild species diversity will be analyzed in the context of mildew response in collaboration with Lance Cadle-Davidson, Plant Pathologist with USDA-ARS Geneva.

We took 990 budbreak observations in grape over 2008-2009. The 2008 data included wild species only. The 2009 budbreak data was for a repeat of the wild species as well as the rest of the collection. The data are being converted to Julian dates and loaded into GRIN.

Much effort was put into photo documentation of the grape collection. We uploaded 1,220 photographic images into GRIN. These photos are of clusters hanging on the vine, detached leaf upper surface, and detached lower surface. Many of the cluster photos were taken 10 years ago. They were very nice photos, but we had to adjust them for aspect ratio, size, and color balance before loading them. This year we have taken photos of many flower clusters, both in the field and detached. They have yet to be loaded into GRIN. Last years detached leaf photos are all loaded, and we are continuing that effort this year. We choose to display photos of the leaves for ampelographic analysis as opposed to metric analysis.

PGRU has 2,621 Malus accessions maintained as clones in the collection. Specific core collections of Malus sieversii were designated after extensive phenotyping and genotyping. This added 120 accessions to our collection where scions from the original seedling trees were collected and propagated on EMLA 7 rootstocks. Publications that define these core subsets: 1) Richards, C.M., G.M. Volk, P.A. Reeves, A.A. Reilley, A.D. Henk, and P.L. Forsline, and H.S. Aldwinckle. 2009. Selection of stratified core sets representing wild apple (Malus sieversii). J. Amer. Soc. Hort. Sci. 134:228-235 and 2)Volk, G.M., A.A. Reilley, A.D. Henk, C.M. Richards, P.L. Forsline, and H.S. Aldwinckle. 2005. Ex situ conservation of vegetatively propagated species: Development of a seed-based core collection of Malus sieversii. J. Amer. Soc. Hort. Sci. 130: 203-210. In addition 10 M. sieversii were added from a collection of M. sieversii being evaluated at Ohio State University: Volk, G.M., C.M. Richards, A.D. Henk, A.A. Reilley, D.D. Miller, and P.L. Forsline. 2009. Novel diversity identified in a wild apple population from the Kyrgyzstan. HortScience 44:516-518. A core collection of 27 M. orientalis accessions was also added to the main collection: Volk, G.M., C.M. Richards, A.A. Reilley, A.D. Henk, P.A. Reeves, P.L. Forsline, and H.S. Aldwinckle. 2009. Capturing the diversity of wild Malus orientalis from Georgia, Armenia, Russia and Turkey. Under review. We also maintain 1565 seed-lot accessions with 310 of these having variable size seedling populations under evaluation presently. These plantings include nearly 3000 individual seedlings that have been added to the GRIN record. We received 10 new accessions from the Quarantine program in Beltsville. Many of these were previously virus infected and now have been cleaned up through heat therapy.

We made excellent progress in doing corrective pruning on 3,000 wild apple seedlings so that they can be used for efficient evaluation projects over the next 5 years. We continue an SCA with Dr. Aldwinckle of Cornell to evaluate all of these seedlings for resistance to apple scab and fire blight. In addition, 85 M. sieversii accessions obtained in 2006-2007 from the University of Minnesota were screened under this program for apple scab and fire blight resistance. These 3,000 seedlings are now treated as separate accessions in GRIN since we have a record of morphological and molecular data for each. Our collaborator (G. Volk) at ARS in Ft. Collins, CO developed a protocol for adding molecular data to GRIN. The data on the 3000 wild apple species was the first to be loaded using this new protocol.

We continue additional collaborative projects in this period with programs at ARS in Kearneysville (Meyers, Bassett, Glenn, Norelli, Wisniewski, Janisiewicz) and Fort Collins (Volk, Richards, Walters, Ellis and Jenderek) as well as with SAES (Luby, VanNocker, Peace) and international programs.

We initiated two new projects in 2008 using the mapping populations of M. sieversii X Royal Gala that we maintain at PGRU. These seven populations (200 individuals in each) which have a common maternal parent Royal Gala and 7 different M. sieversii paternal parents completed the 5th leaf in PGRU orchards in 2008. Dr. Kenong Xu of Cornell University is collaborating with PGRU in a genomic assessment of population GMAL 4595.

Fruit from thirty individuals from each of three mapping populations (GMAL 4591, 4593 and 4595) are being phenotyped in 2009 at Washington State University. In addition, 70 Malus cultivars from PGRU have been added to the Crop Reference Set for phenotyping. This is part of an NRI-funded project which involves national and international collaboration  a project entitled Functional Markers for Rosaceae Tree Fruit Texture. This project will continue through 2012 based on an SCRI grant that was funded entitled RosBREED: Enabling marker-assisted breeding in Rosaceae.

The entire core collection and 90% of the main collection of Malus has been characterized for priority descriptors with the data loaded to GRIN. We have completed digital imaging of 65% of the collection. The original core collection of 190 accessions established at five sites in 1992 has been expanded with the addition of 67 accessions representing individuals of 12 species collected from the wild. We have established a planting (grafted to Budagovsky 9 rootstock) of the entire expanded core subset at the main farm. This planting is now in the sixth year and is used as a demonstration block for visitors and users to make observations of the tremendous diversity in Malus. All seedling populations that we grow out are own-rooted trees in a high density orchard. The planting dates range from 1997 to 2007. The seedlings of M. orientalis from the former USSR Republic of Georgia were planted in the field in May 2007. Most of the M. sieversii from Central Asia was planted in 1997 and 1998. As of fall 2006, 970 of the 1591 Central Asian seedlings of M. sieversii fruited and have been characterized for horticultural traits with 650 having digital images of fruits completed. Some of the other species collected 1997-2004 and planted later are starting to fruit and will be characterized for morphological traits.

In a collaborative project with the USDA-ARS National Center for Genetic Resources Preservation (NCGRP) in Fort Collins, CO, additional seeds of M. sieversii were produced though controlled pollination of core collections from two Kazakh sites. We produced 29,573 seeds on trees from Kazakhstan site 6 and assigned PI #s 646107  646153 to sublots of the seeds produced. For site Kazakhstan site 9, we produced 21,050 seeds and assigned PI #s 645631  645679 to sublots of the seeds produced. We germinated and planted 512 seeds representing each of these sites. All of the surviving seedlings (840) were screened for apple scab resistance in the SCA with Dr. Aldwinckle. The seedlings are growing in the nursery and will be dug in fall 2009. Dr. Fazio, apple rootstock breeder will complete a root imaging study on all seedlings. The seedlings will be sent to Washington State University in fall 2009 to be planted in an orchard for further phenotyping. In 2009 we initiated a project to validate the capture of genetic and phenotypic diversity represented in these seedlings by utilizing molecular markers and resistance to V. inaequalis (apple scab). Of the 399 seedlings in site 6 core, 41% are resistant to apple scab. Of the 456 seedlings in the site 9 core, 38% are resistant to apple scab. DNA has been collected from 42 parents from site 6 core, 43 parents from site 9 core, 397 seedlings from site 6 core and 450 seedlings from site 9 core. SSR fingerprints are being used to effectively determine if parental alleles are being conserved in seedlings. Because it is both expensive and risky to maintain wild seedlings in the field indefinitely, it is important to determine if maintaining the seeds of the core collection also maintains the core diversity as discussed in: Volk G.M., A.A. Reilley, A.D. Henk, C. M. Richards, P.L. Forsline, and H.S. Aldwinckle. 2005. Ex situ conservation of vegetatively propagated species: Development of a seed-based core collection of Malus sieversii. J. Amer. Soc. Hort. Sci. 130:203-210.

To further the understanding of identity and diversity of apple accessions in the collection, molecular markers are being applied. SSR fingerprints at eight loci for 1,274 Malus domestica (common apple) were completed and loaded into GRIN last year with 20,384 data points. For the remaining 850 wild apple species accessions, DNA has been extracted and is ready for fingerprinting. This project has been coordinated with similar work done at Ft. Collins with other wild apple species and with other apple species in France and Italy. After review of our results, we will consider extending the effort to more markers.

The sour cherry (tetrapolid cherry) collection has developed over the last 13 years in close consultation with Dr. Amy Iezzoni of Michigan State University (MSU). Presently, the PGRU collection consists of 125 accessions. This includes Prunus cerasus (95 accessions), Prunus fruticosa (11 accessions) and other Prunus species and hybrids (19 accessions). We have continued to keep back-ups in pots in a screenhouse until accessions are well-established in the field.

In 2008 we phenotypically characterized tomato core collections (landraces and geodiversity) through field observations, collecting vine-ripened fruit, and optimizing and performing Vitamin C and lycopene assays in the lab. As part of an SCA with D. Francis, phenotypic evaluations of a replicate set and SNP genotyping were carried out by his group. These data are being analyzed comparatively with an Ohio State Univ. core set of fresh market, processing, and heirloom varieties. Hypotheses pertaining to centers of diversity and loss of diversity within modern breeding germplasm will be tested. A similar CGC grant is in progress for an heirloom core set in 2009. In collaboration with D. Panthee (NC State Univ), D. Francis (Ohio State Univ), and M. McGrath (Cornell Univ), data will be collected from field trials in three locations.

We adopted and optimized a Real-Time PCR platform (Roche Light Cycler 480) for genotyping based on S. lycopersicum SNPs. In 2009 we will apply a set of 12 markers to a set of putative duplicates and phenotypically evaluate the accessions in the field. The purpose is to evaluate genetic redundancy in duplicate accessions.

We are analyzing DNA sequences for 50 genes in S. pimpinellifolium PI 370093 (source of Cf-2, Cf-3, Pto), S. habrochaites PI 125445 (B), and Peru Wild PI 303801(Ve), S. arcanum G 32951, S. peruvianum G 32592, S. peruvianum LA1537, and S. pennellii PI 414773. The purpose is to compare wild species alleles to S. lycopersicum to test hypotheses of linkage drag as a consequence of interspecific breeding for crop improvement.

PGRU L. peruvianum accessions will be reclassified into Solanum spp. based on the recently published Monograph by Peralta et al. (2008). Fifty accessions were grown in the greenhouse and keyed out in 2009. The entire collection is being grown in the field in 2009 and will be keyed out against known checks.

Technical details of tomato SNP markers generated to date are available through GenBank (sequences, polymorphisms, protocols). Data released 2008-2009 are as follows: 1) SNPs, flanking sequences, and primers can be retrieved at http://tinyurl.com/preview.php?num=3h9mfe) 2) 50 PopSets (aligned sequences): Accessions EU935868 to EU937513. 3) Genomic sequences: Accessions EU797528 to EU797577, Accessions EU365695 to EU365773. J.A. Labate has co-edited four chapters (QTL mapping, Bioinformatics, Metabolomics/Proteomics, Comparative Genome Sequencing) of Genetics, Genomics and Breeding in Fruits and Vegetable Crops: Tomato for Science Publishers. The book volume involves over 30 contributing authors from around the world. The resultant product will be a comprehensive, up-to-date reference for plant breeders, researchers, and students that review germplasm, genetic tools, and applications of genome analysis for crop improvement.

The Public Seed Initiative (PSI) website continues to be a major source of information for organic farmers with over 12,591 hits since its creation. This website supplies detailed information on pepper genomics, seed production, participatory breeding, on-farm commercial variety trials and other related projects throughout the country: www.plbr.cornell.edu/psi. The Organic Seed Partnership (OSP) website has had over 8,820 hits since its creation in 2005 and has been viewed by people in over 70 countries. This website contains all the details that the PSI website had plus information about upcoming events, nationwide cooperators, updated news and events occurring around the country, and streaming video detailing on-farm vegetable breeding and seed production: www.organicseedpartnership.org.

Al-Turki, S., M. Shahba, P. Forsline, and C. Stushnoff. 2008. Biodiversity of total phenolics, antioxidant capacity, and juice quality in apple cider taxa. Horticulture Environment and Biotechnology 49:409-417.

Baldo, A.M., L.D. Robertson, S.M. Sheffer, W.F. Lamboy, and J.A. Labate. 2008. Genetic diversity in tomato: SNPs from various sources show similar amounts of polymorphism and bottlenecking due to domestication. p. 6. In Final Abstracts Guide, Plant and Animal Genome XVI, San Diego, CA.

Baldo, A.M, Malnoy, M., Aldwinckle, H.S. 2008. A Search For Novel Apple Resistance Genes Among Wild And Rootstock Accessions. p. 233. In Final Abstracts Guide, Plant and Animal Genome XVI, San Diego, CA.

Baldo, A.M, Volk, G.M., Olmstead, J., Iezzoni, A. 2008. Resistance Gene Analogs In Cherries (Prunus spp.). p. 236. In Final Abstracts Guide, Plant and Animal Genome XVI, San Diego, CA.

Baldo, AM, J.L. Norelli, R.E. Farrell Jr., C.L. Bassett, H.S. Aldwinckle, M. Malnoy . 2009. Identification of genes differentially expressed during interaction of resistant and susceptible apple cultivars (Malus x domestica) with Erwinia amylovora. Submitted to BMC Plant Biology

Baldo, A.M., Y. Wan, K. Gasic, S. Korban, G. Fazio. 2009. Mapping Genes Expressed Preferentially In Apple Rootstock. Plant & Animal Genome XVII Conference, San Diego, CA.

Baldo, A.M., G.M. Volk, A.D. Henk, A. Iezzoni, J.W. Olmstead, H.S. Aldwinckle, C.A. Weber, S. Samuelian, M.A. Malnoy. 2009. Resistance Gene Analogs In Six Genera Of Rosaceae: A Family-Wide Classification. Plant & Animal Genome XVII Conference, San Diego, CA.

Baldo, A.M., K.M. Folta. 2009. The US Rosaceae White Paper In A Wiki. Plant & Animal Genome XVII Conference, San Diego, CA.

Bassil, N.V., K.E. Hummer, J.D. Postman, G. Fazio, A.M. Baldo, I. Armas, and R. Williams. 2008. Nomenclature and genetic relationships of apples and pears from Terceira Island. Genet. Res. and Crop Evol. online doi: 10.1007/s10722-008-9369-z

Bassil, N.V., K.E. Hummer, J.D. Postman, A.M. Baldo, G. Fazio, I. Armas, R. Williams. 2009. Microsatellite Markers Reveal Relationships Within Heritage Apple And Pear Cultivars In Terceira Island. Plant & Animal Genome XVII Conference, San Diego, CA.

Bassett, C.L., Wisniewski, M.E., Baldo, A.M., Artlip, T.S., Farrell, R.E. 2008. Differential Expression Of Genes In Apple During Gradual Water Deficit Conditions. p. 136. In Final Abstracts Guide, Plant and Animal Genome XVI, San Diego, CA.

Borejsza-Wysocka, E.E., Norelli, J.L., Baldo, A.M., Farrell, R.E., Bassett, C.L., Aldwinckle, H.S. 2008. High-Efficiency Generation Of RNAi Mutants Of Apple By Use Of Multi-Vector Transformation. p. 232. In Final Abstracts Guide, Plant and Animal Genome XVI, San Diego, CA.

Borejsza-Wysocka, E.E., J.L. Norelli, A.M. Baldo, R.E. Farrell Jr, M. Malnoy, C.L. Bassett , H.S. Aldwinckle.2008. Making RNAi mutants of apple with high-efficiency by use of multi-vector transformation. p 62 in Final Abstracts Guide, 4th International Rosaceae Genomics Conference, Pucon, Chile Fazio, G., P.L. Forsline, H. Aldwinckle, and L. Pons. 2008. The Apple Collection in Geneva, NY: A Resource for The Apple Industry Today and for Generations to Come. New York Fruit Quarterly 3:3-6. 16: 5-8.

Fazio, G., H.S. Aldwinckle, G.M. Volk, C.M. Richards, W. J. Janisiewicz, and P.L. Forsline. 2009. Progress in evaluating Malus sieversii for disease resistance and horticultural traits. Acta Horticulturae 814:59-66.

Forsline, P.L., J. Luby, and H.S. Aldwinckle. 2008. Fire blight incidence on Malus sieversii grown in New York and Minnesota. 11th International Workshop on Fire Blight. Acta Horticulturae 793: 345-350.

Janisiewicz, W., Robert Saftner , William Conway and Philip Forsline. 2008. Preliminary Evaluation of Apple Germplasm from Kazakhstan for Resistance to Blue Mold Decay Caused by Penicillium expansum After Harvest. HortScience 43:420-426.

Jurick II, W.M., R.A. Saftner, W.J. Janisiewicz, I. Vico, P.L. Forsline, W.S. Conway. 2009. Evaluation of wild apple (Malus sieversii) germplasm from Kazakhstan for resistance to Penicillium expansum and Colletotrichum acuatum. 2009 APS annual meeting

Kopsell, D.A., C.E. Sams, D.E. Deyton, K.R. Abney, D.E. Kopsell, and L. Robertson. 2009. Characterization of Nutritionally Important Carotenoids in Bunching Onion Accessions. HortSci (In Press).

Labate, J.A. 2008. Ch. 2 Molecular markers in germplasm conservation. p. 45-74. In C. Kole and A. Abbott, (ed.) Principles and practices of plant genomics vol 2. Science Publishers, Inc., Enfield, New Hampshire, USA; Plymouth, UK.

Labate, J.A., S.M. Sheffer, W.F. Lamboy, and A.M. Baldo. 2008. Genomic sequences of tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) for comparison of three marker types. Direct submission to GenBank. Accessions EU797528 to EU797577.

Labate, J.A. and Baldo, A.M. Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) and Insertion/Deletion polymorphisms (Indels) in four cultivated tomato lines. 2008. Submitted to dbSNP. NCBI ss# 76883011 to 76883086, 77106585 to 77106606. Labate, J.A. and Baldo, A.M. 2008. Anonymous genomic sequence of tomato. NCBI accessions EU365695 to EU365773.

Labate, J.A., L.D. Robertson, and A.M. Baldo. 2009. Multilocus sequence data reveal extensive departures from equilibrium in domesticated tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.). Heredity advance online publication doi:10.1038/hdy.2009.58. Labate, J.A., L.D. Robertson, F. Wu, S.D. Tanksley, and A.M. Baldo. 2009. EST, COSII, and arbitrary gene markers give similar estimates of nucleotide diversity in cultivated tomato (S. lycopersicum L.). Theor Appl Genet 118:10051014.

Labate, J.A., L.D. Robertson, and A.M. Baldo. 2009. SNP diversity in cultivated tomato. In Final Program, 2009 Tomato Breeders Roundtable, Sacramento, CA.

Malnoy, M., A.M. Baldo, C. Carlisle, D. Bowatte, E.E. Borejsza-Wysocka, J.L. Norelli, R.E. Farrell Jr, C.L. Bassett, S. Gardiner, H.S. Aldwinckle. 2008. Mapping of apple genes found to be expressed during the Erwinia amylovora:Malus interaction. p 85 in Final Abstracts Guide, 4th International Rosaceae Genomics Conference, Pucon, Chile

Malnoy, M., A.M. Baldo, and H.S. Aldwinckle. 2008. Identification of new resistance gene analogs in 33 wild Malus species. p 57 in Final Abstracts Guide, 4th International Rosaceae Genomics Conference, Pucon, Chile

Malnoy, M., Baldo, A.M., Carlisle, C.M., Bowatte, D., Borejsza-Wysocka, E.E., Norelli, J.L., Farrell, R.E., Bassett, C.L., Gardiner, S.E., Aldwinckle, H.S. 2008. Identification And Mapping Of Genes Differentially Expressed During Interaction Of Resistant And Susceptible Apple Cultivars (Malus Xdomestica) With Erwinia amylovora. p. 232. In Final Abstracts Guide, Plant and Animal Genome XVI, San Diego, CA.

Myers, C. T., and P. L. Forsline. 2008. Pest resistance status of hybrid releases housed in USDA's "core" Malus germplasm collection. Entomological Society of America, Eastern Branch. Annual Meeting, 9-11 March, 2008, Syracuse, NY.

Myers, C.T., W.H. Reissig, and P.L. Forsline. 2008. Susceptibility of fruit from diverse apple and crabapple germplasm to attack from apple maggot, Rhagoletis pomonella (Walsh) (Diptera: Tephritidae). Journal of Economic Entomology. J. Econ. Entomol. 101(1): 206-215.

Norelli, J.L., Gardiner, S.E., Malnoy, M., Aldwinckle, H.S., Baldo, A.M., Borejsza-Wysocka, E.E., Farrell, R.E., Lalli, D.A., Celton, J.M., Bassett, C.L., Korban, S.S., Wisniewski, M.E. 2008. Using Functional Genomics To Develop Tools To Breed Fire Blight Resistant Apples. p. 232. In Final Abstracts Guide, Plant and Animal Genome XVI, San Diego, CA.

Richards, C.M., G.M. Volk, P.A. Reeves, A.A. Reilley, A.D. Henk, and P.L. Forsline, and H.S. Aldwinckle. 2009. Selection of stratified core sets representing wild apple (Malus sieversii). J. Amer. Soc. Hort. Sci. 134:228-235.

Richards, C.M., Gayle M. Volk, Ann A. Reilley, Adam D. Henk, Dale Lockwood, Patrick A. Reeves, and Philip L. Forsline. 2009. Genetic diversity and population structure in Malus sieversii, a wild progenitor species of domesticated apple. Tree Genetics and Genomics 3:339-347.

Rupasinghe, H.P.V, G.M. Huber, C. Embree, and P.L. Forsline. 2008. Red-fleshed apples as a source for functional beverages. Canadian Institute of Food Science and Technology Conference. May 25-27, 2008.

Samuelian, S.K., Baldo, A.M., Pattison, J.A., and Weber, C.A. 2008. Isolation and linkage mapping of NBS-LRR resistance gene analogs in red raspberry ( Rubus idaeus L.) and classification among 270 Rosaceae NBS-LRR genes. Tree Genetics & Genomes. Electronic Online First article http://www.springerlink.com/content/n423jnx741586448

Simon, C.J., Y. Wan, H. Schwaninger, G.-Y. Zhong, J.A. Labate, and A.M. Baldo. 2008. Nucleotide polymorphism analysis in Vitis: A broad survey across the grape genus. p. 240 In Final Abstracts Guide, Plant and Animal Genome XVI, San Diego, CA.

Simon, C.J., A.M. Baldo, Y. Wan. 2009. Genetic Sequence Diversity In The Grape Genus (Vitis). Plant & Animal Genome XVII Conference, San Diego, CA. Sun, Lingxia, . Steve van Nocker, and Philip L. Forsline. 2008. Natural Variation for Fruit Abscission in Apple (Malus). HortScience 43:1271 Sun, Lingxia, Steve van Nocker, and Philip. L. Forsline. 2008. Natural Variation in Fruit Abscission-Related Traits in Apple (Malus). Euphytica. Published on-line in 2008.

Volk Gayle, Christopher M. Richards, Ann A. Reilley, Adam D. Henk, Patrick A. Reeves, Philip L. Forsline, and Herb S. Aldwinckle. 2009. Capturing the diversity of wild Malus orientalis from Georgia, Armenia, Russia and Turkey. Under review.

Volk, Gayle, Christopher M. Richards, Adam D. Henk Patrick, Ann A. Reilley, Diane D. Miller, and Philip L. Forsline. 2009. Novel diversity identified in a wild apple population from the Kyrgyzstan. HortScience 44:516-518.

Volk Gayle, Christopher M. Richards, Ann A. Reilley, Adam D. Henk, Patrick A. Reeves, Philip L. Forsline, and Herb S. Aldwinckle. 2008. Genetic diversity and disease resistance of wild Malus orientalis from Turkey and southern Russia. J. Amer. Soc. Hort. Sci. 133: 383-389

Volk, Gayle M., Christopher M. Richards and Philip L. Forsline. 2009. A comprehensive approach toward conserving Malus germplasm. ISHS symposium on Molecular markers, Corvallis, OR, July 2009.

Volk, G.M., Christopher M. Richards, Philip L. Forsline, and Herb Aldwinckle. 2008. Diversity of wild Malus germplasm available in the USDA-ARS National Plant Germplasm System. HortScience 43: 1136

Volk Gayle, Christopher M. Richards, Philip L. Forsline. 2009. A comprehensive approach toward conserving Malus germplasm. Acta Horticulturae. Under Review

Volk, Gayle M., Christopher M. Richards, Philip L. Forsline, and Herb S. Aldwinckle. 2008. Assessment of the genetic diversity and disease resistance of wild Malus orientalis seedlings from Turkey and Southern Russia. 4th International Rosaceae Genomics Conference

Walters, C., G.M. Volk, P.L. Forsline, and K.L. Koster. 2009. Long-term survival of cryopreserved germplasm: Contributing factors and assessments from 30 year-old experiments. ISHS 1st International Symposium on Cryopreservation in Horticultural Species. Leuven Belgium, April 5-8, 2009.

Walters, Chrsitina, Gayle M. Volk, Leigh E. Towill and Philip L. Forsline. 2009. Survival of cryogenically-stored dormant apple buds: A 20 year assessment. 1st International Symposium on Cryopreservation in Horticultural Species. Leuven Belgium, April 5-8, 2009.