Herb S. Aldwinckle
Professor

Address, Phone, Fax

E-Mail: hsa1@cornell.edu

1967 Ph.D. London University, UK
1963 B.A. Cambridge University, UK

Division of Effort
Research – 100% on resistance and genetic engineering of fruit crops, apple germplasm exploration and evaluation, and coffee biotechnology.

Complete CV – html | pdf

The major objectives of my research program are to develop disease resistant apple varieties and rootstocks, to investigate the molecular basis of disease resistance in apple, to understand and manage the fire blight disease of apple, and to acquire and evaluate apple germplasm.  I have collaborated with Cornell apple breeders and made joint introductions of the disease-resistant scion cultivars, Liberty and Freedom, and the fire blight-resistant size-controlling rootstocks, Geneva-30, -16, -11 and -65.  My lab has successfully transformed several apple genotypes to increase resistance to fire blight, at first with genes from other organisms, and recently by altering expression of apple genes.  This latter approach is likely to be more acceptable to regulatory agencies, apple growers, and consumers.  Recently efforts to sequence apple ESTs will facilitate apple genomics research, particularly for elucidating mechanisms of disease resistance, as will our parallel studies of proteomics of disease resistance in apple. We have shared our transformation technology with labs worldwide in collaborative studies of disease resistance, insect resistance, and other horticultural traits.  The rootstock phase of fire blight is particularly poorly understood and is an important focus of our research.   We are also evaluating biological controls for the blossom phase of fire blight.  In cooperation with the USDA Plant Genetic Resources Unit at Geneva, we evaluate diverse apple germplasm for resistance to several diseases, including apple scab, cedar apple rust, fire blight, Phytophthora species, and other root pathogens.  We have collected apple germplasm in Central Asia, China and Turkey, and hope to do further collecting in Yunnan and Tibet.

Movement of Erwinia amylovora in apple scions and rootstocks

A Comparison of Two Years of Research on Biological Control of Fire Blight in New York

Professional Societies
American Phytopathological Society
Society for In Vitro Biology
International Society for Horticultural Science
American Society for Horticultural Science
American Association for the Advancement of Science

Teaching
Coordinator for Plant Pathology 419  Field Plant Pathology