Dr. Amy Iezzoni
Professor
A342-B Plant and Soil Sciences
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI 48824-1325
Phone: 517/355-5191, ext 391
Fax: 517/353-0890
Email: iezzoni@msu.edu

Dr. Amy Iezzoni Education Research Publication Balaton Tart Cherries

Joined Department:
September 1, 1981
 

 Appointment:
80% Research
20% Teaching 

 

RosBREED Consortium


Courses:
 Plant Reproductive Biology & Polyploids (HRT 820)         
Advanced Plant Breeding (HRT 819)
Education:

Ph.D., Plant Breeding and Genetics, University of Wisconsin - Madison, 1981
M.S., Plant Breeding and Genetics, University of Wisconsin - Madison, 1979
B.S., Horticultural Science, North Carolina State University, 1977

Research Interests:

Sour Cherry Breeding

The sour cherry (Prunus cerasus) industry in the U.S. is a monoculture of a 400-year-old variety from France called Montmorency.  The goals of the MSU sour cherry breeding program are to develop new cultivars which will have superior fruit quality and disease resistance compared to Montmorency, and will yield consistently over years. To reach these goals, we have an aggressive breeding program which includes approximately 25 acres of seedlings and 15 test sites around the U.S. Currently our disease resistance breeding program involves the introgression of resistance gene(s) for cherry leaf spot (Blumeriella jaapii) resistance from wild Prunus species, P. canescens and P. maackii, into commercially acceptable sour cherry cultivars. The first release from the breeding program, named Balaton®, originated as a landrace variety from Hungary: see http://www.hrt.msu.edu/balaton.html.

 Cherry Genetics

Self-incompatibility:  The diploid sweet cherry is a classic example of a species exhibiting S-RNase-based gametophytic self-incompatibility.  In comparison, individual tetraploid sour cherry selections can be either self-compatible or self-incompatible.  Our goal is to understand the genetic control of self-compatibility and self-incompatibility in sour cherry.  Our current hypothesis is that self-compatibility arose in sour cherry from the more ancestral state of self-incompatibility due to the occurrence of self-fertile mutants. So far one of these self-fertile mutants has been characterized as having an insertion in the putative promoter region of the S6-RNase. 

Fruit Quality Traits:  We have a long standing interest in the genetic control of fruit quality traits in both sweet and sour cherry.  Our research strategy is to identify QTLs that control fruit quality traits that have been altered during domestication.  For this analysis over 900 progeny were generated from the cross between a wild sweet cherry with small highly acid dark fruit (NY 54 – Fig. left) and a domesticated variety with large pink sweet fruit (Emperor Francis – Fig. right). 

 

Our initial focus is on the genetic control of fruit size.  Anatomical studies indicate that the fruit of NY 54 is larger than the fruit of Emperor Francis solely due to an increase in cell number, not cell size.  Research is ongoing to understand the genetic control and timing of this difference in cell number.

Bloom time:   One out of every three years, cherry yields in Michigan are significantly reduced by spring freeze damage. We are currently using a QTL strategy in a sour cherry population that exhibits extensive transgressive segregation for late bloom time, to identify the genomic region(s) that control bloom time.  Our long term goal is to fine-map QTL regions identified as a prelude to candidate gene analysis.

 Sweet cherry rootstock selection

The breeding program has an ongoing effort to identify precocious dwarfing rootstocks for sweet cherry from the MSU cherry germplasm collection.  So far, 93 MSU rootstock selections are under test in replicated trials in Michigan and Washington State with Hedelfingen and Bing scions, respectively.   

 

Selected Publications:

  • Olmstead JW, Sebolt AM., Cabrera A, Sooriyapathirana SS, Hammar S, Iriarte G, Wang D, Chen CY, van der Knaap E, Iezzoni AF. 2008. Construction of an intra-specific sweet cherry (Prunus avium L.) genetic linkage map and synteny analysis with the Prunus reference map. Tree Genetics and Genomes 4: 897-910.
  • Tsukamoto T, Potter D, Ryutaro T, Vieira CP, Vieira J, Iezzoni AF. 2008. Genetic and molecular characterization of three novel S-haplotypes in sour cherry (Prunus cerasus L.). Journal of Experimental Botany 59: 3169-3185
  • Shulaev V, Korban S, Sosinski B, Abbott AB, Aldwinckle HS, Folta KM, Iezzoni AF, Main D, Arus P, Dandekar A, Lewers K, Brown SK, Davis TM, Gardiner SE, Veilleux RD. 2008. Rosaceae genomics - A multiple model solution. Plant Physiology 147: 985-1003.
  • Iezzoni AF. 2008. Cherries. In Temperate Fruit Crop Breeding: Germplasm to Genomics, ed. James F. Hancock, 151-175. Springer.
  • Iezzoni, AF. 2008. Cherries. In The Encyclopedia of Fruits and Nuts, eds. Jules Janick & R E. Paull, Wallingford, Oxfordshire: CABI Publishing.
  • Tsukamoto T, Tao R, Iezzoni AF. 2008. PCR markers for mutated S-haplotypes enable discrimination between self-incompatible and self-compatible sour cherry selections. Molecular Breeding 21 (1):67-68.
  • Iezzoni, A, Olmstead J.  2006.  Agricultural Biology in the 21st Century: It’s about the genes. Compact Fruit Tree 39 (2): 12-15.
  • Tsukamoto T, Hauck NR, Tao R, Jiang N, Iezzoni AF. 2006. Molecular characterization of three non-functional S-haplotypes in sour cherry (Prunus cerasus). Plant Molecular Biology 62, 371-383.
  • Hauck NR, H Yamane, R Tao and A. Iezzoni. 2005. Accumulation of non-functional S-haplotypes results in the breakdown of gametophytic self-incompatibility in tetraploid cherry. Genetics (in press)
  • Iezzoni, A.F. 2005.  Acquiring cherry germplasm from Central and Eastern Europe. HortScience 40(2): 304-308.
  • Ikeda K, Ushijima K, Yamane H, Tao R, Hauck NR, Sebolt AM, and AF Iezzoni.  2005.  Linkage and physical distances between the S-haplotype S-RNase and SFB genes in sweet cherry. Sexual Plant Reproduction 17: 289-296.
  • keda, K., A. Watari, K. Ushijima, H. Yamane, R. Tao, N.R. Hauck, and A.F. Iezzoni. 2004.  Molecular markers for the self-compatible S4’-haplotype, a pollen part mutant in sweet cherry (Prunus avium L.). J. Amer. Soc. Hort. Sci. 129 (5): 724-728.
  • Ushijami, K., H. Yamane, A. Watari, E. Kakehi, K. Ikeda, N.R. Hauck, A.F. Iezzoni, and R. Tao. 2004.  The S haplotype-specific F-box protein gene, SFB, is defective in self-compatible haplotypes of Prunus avium and P. mume.  Plant Journal 39: 573-586.
  • Ikeda, K., B. Igic, K. Ushijima, H. Yamane, N.R. Hauck, R. Nakano, H. Sassa, A.F. Iezzoni, J.R. Kohn and R. Tao. 2004. Primary structural features of the S haplotype-specific F-box protein, SFB, in Prunus. Sexual Plant Reproduction 16 (5): 235-243.
  • Yamane, H., K. Ikeda, N.R. Hauck, A.F. Iezzoni, and R. Tao. 2003. Self-incompatibility (S) locus region of the mutated S6-haplotype of sour cherry (Prunus cerasus) contains functional pollen S allele and non-functional pistil S-allele. J. Experimental Botany 54: 1-7.
  • Wharton, P.S., A.F. Iezzoni, and A.L. Jones. 2003. Screening cherry germplasm for resistance to cherry leaf spot. Plant Disease.
  • Aranzana, M.J., A. Pineda, P. Cosson, E. Dirlewanger, J. Ascasibar, R. Testolin, A. Abbott, G.J. King, A.F. Iezzoni and P. Arus. 2003. A set of simple-sequence repeat (SSR) markers covering the Prunus genome. Theor. Appl. Genet. 106: 819-825.
  • Adams, G.C., Surve-Iyer, R.S., and A.F. Iezzoni. 2002. Ribosomal DNA sequence divergence and group I introns within the Leucostoma species L. cinctum, L. persoonii, and L. parapersoonii sp. Nov., ascomycetes that cause Cytospora canker of fruit trees. Mycologia 94(6): 947-967.
  • Owens, C.L., J.F. Hancock, M. Thomashow, and A.F. Iezzoni. 2002. CBF1 orthologs in sour cherry and strawberry and the heterologous expression of CBF1 in strawberry.  Jour. Amer. Soc. Hort. Sci. 127: 489-494.
  • Hauck, A., A. Iezzoni, H. Yamane, and R. Tao. 2002. Self-compatibility and incompatibility in tetraploid sour cherry (Prunus cerasus L.). Sexual Plant Reproduction 15:39-46.
  • Struss, D., M. Boritzki, R. Karle, and A.F. Iezzoni. 2002. Microsatellite markers differentiate eight Giessen cherry rootstocks. HortScience 37: 191-193.
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  • Hauck, NR, AF Iezzoni, H Yamane and R. Tao. 2001.  Revisiting the S-allele nomenclature in sweet cherry (Prunus avium L.) using RFLP profiles. J. Amer. Soc. Hort. Sci. 126:654-660.
  • Yamane, H, R Tao, A Sugiura, NR Hauck and AF Iezzoni. 2001.  Identification and characterization of S-RNases in tetraploid sour cherry (Prunus cerasus L.). J. Amer. Soc. Hort. Sci. 126:661-667.
  • Hauck, NR, H. Yamane, R. Tao and A.F. Iezzoni.  2002.  Self-compatibility and incompatibility in tetraploid sour cherry (Prunus cerasus L.).  Sexual Plant Reproduction 15:39-46.
  • Struss, D, M Boritzki, R Karle and AF Iezzoni. 2002.  Microsatellite markers differentiate eight Giessen cherry rootstocks. HortSci 37:191-193.
  • Brettin, T.S, R. Karle, E.L. Crowe, and A.F. Iezzoni. 2000.  Chloroplast inheritance and DNA variation in sweet, sour, and ground cherry. Journal of Heredity 91: 75-79.
  • Wang, D., R. Karle, and A.F. Iezzoni. 2000. QTL analysis of flower and fruit traits in sour cherry.  Theor. Appl. Genet. 100:535-544.
  • Wang, D., R. Karle, T.S. Brettin, and A.F. Iezzoni. 1998.  Genetic linkage map in sour cherry using RFLP markers.  Theor Appl Genet.   97:1217-1224.
  • Wang, D., A. Iezzoni, and G. Adams.  1998 Genetic heterogeneity of Leucostoma species in Michigan orchards.   Phytopathology  88:376-389.

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