Tree Fruit Genetics and Breeding

Research Interests:

This program mainly aims at developing new varieties of peach, plum, nectarine and cherries to meet the Ontario fruit industry needs. Apart from continuing traditional breeding that is in place for a long time at Vineland Station, my program also will incorporate recent advances in cell culture and molecular genetics to complement fruit breeding. One of the near term objective is to find ways to control the spread of plum pox virus by utilizing the genetic resources that are available here as well as in other tree fruit breeding programs in the US and Europe.

Selected Publications:

Jayasankar, S., M. Van Aman., Z. Li, D.J. Gray. (2001). Direct seeding of grapevine somatic embryos and regeneration of plants. In Vitro Cellular and Development Biology - Plant, 37: 476-479

Jayasankar, S., Z. Li, D.J. Gray. (2000). In-vitro selection of Vitis vinifera `Chardonnay' with Elsinoe ampelina culture filtrate is accompanied by fungal resistance and enhanced secretion of chitinase Planta 211: 200-208

Jayasankar, S., D.J. Gray, R.E. Litz. (1999). High-efficiency somatic embryogenesis and plant regeneration from suspension cultures of grapevine. Plant Cell Reports. 18: 533-537

Jayasankar, S., R.E. Litz. (1998). Characterization of embryogenic mango cultures selected for resistance to Colletotrichum gloeosporioides culture filtrate and phytotoxin. Theoretical and Applied Genetics 96: 823-831