Bruce Reisch

Using tools of genetics and genomics for grapevine improvement:

Program objectives focus on the genetic improvement of grapevines while integrating traditional and novel techniques. In the traditional portion of the project, interspecific hybridization is used to select wine grapes with cold hardiness, high yield, disease resistance and high wine quality. The 'Traminette' grapevine, a cold-hardy, disease resistant white wine grape which makes a wine reminiscent of Gewürztraminer, has been extremely well received by the premium wine industry and received the Outstanding Fruit Cultivar Award from American Society for Horticultural Science in 2015. Genetic mapping is used to locate genes controlling viticulturally important traits, and marker-assisted selection is used routinely to pre-select for traits that would otherwise be difficult to evaluate or take years to determine.

Program objectives focus on the genetic improvement of grapevines while integrating traditional and novel techniques. In the traditional portion of the project, interspecific hybridization is used to select wine grapes with cold hardiness, disease resistance and high wine quality. Our 1996 release, 'Traminette', a cold-hardy, disease resistant white wine grape producing a wine reminiscent of Gewürztraminer, has been extremely well received by the premium wine industry. Three new wine grapes were released for use in 2006 and are quickly being adopted by the eastern grape industry. 'Arandell' (disease resistant red wine grape) and 'Aromella' (hardy, productive white wine grape) were named and released in 2013. Also, table grapes with pleasing flavors, cold hardiness, seedlessness, storage potential, and large berry and cluster size are under development. Disease resistance is a high priority objective. Our best accessions, usually derived from native American species, are used as parents to impart high levels of disease resistance. Promising selections are tested across New York State and with University cooperators across the United States. Novel techniques in plant breeding are also being studied for potential contributions to grapevine improvement. These studies currently focus on an assortment DNA techniques to place molecular markers on genetic linkage maps in Vitis. Our present efforts focus on use of these maps for marker-assisted selection. Large mapping populations are being used to study the genetics of a range of viticultural and resistance traits. we have been applying marker-assisted breeding technology directly to the ongoing breeding program, and are seeking efficient means to expand such efforts.

Outreach and Extension Focus

Our program hosts field visits by members of the New York grape and wine industry to show the research progress being made in developing new grape cultivars. We also present information at various events, and publish extension bulletins as needed. In addition, our VitisGen2 SCRI project maintains a twitter account in conjunction with the www.vitisgen2.org website to push out current research information.

Extension is a small but highly important position responsibility. The wine and grape industries rely on me as a source for information not only on the new cultivars developed in my program, but also on the full range of wine and table grape cultivars available on today`s market. Our approach is to supply test selections and cultivars to researchers in many states; gather information on cultivars and selections in trials at Geneva, Fredonia, Pennsylvania, and Niagara County; and to present information at public meetings, workshops, and on our VitisGen program web site as well as via the SCRI project website.

Journal Publications

Google Scholar profile and publications.

• Divilov, K.D., P. Barba, L. Cadle-Davidson, and B.I. Reisch. 2018.  Single and multiple phenotype QTL analyses of grapevine downy mildew resistance in interspecific grapevines.  Theor. Appl. Genet. 131(5):1133-1143. 
• Barba, P., J. Lillis, R.S. Luce, R. Travadon, M. Osier, K. Baumgartner, W.F. Wilcox, B.I. Reisch, and L. Cadle-Davidson. 2018. Two dominant loci determine resistance to phomopsis cane lesions in F1 families of hybrid grapevines. Theor. Appl. Genet. 131(5):1173-1189.
• Burzynski-Chang, E.A., I. Ryona, B.I. Reisch, I. Gonda, M.R. Foolad, J.J. Giovannoni, and G.L. Sacks. 2018. HS-SPME-GC-MS Analyses of volatiles in plant populations – Quantitating compound x individual matrix effects. Molecules. 23(10):2436  
• Kovaleski, A. P., B.I. Reisch, and J.P. Londo.  2018.  Deacclimation kinetics as a quantitative phenotype for delineating the dormancy transition and thermal efficiency for budbreak in Vitis species. AoB Plants  ply066.
• Tassoni, A., A. Zappi, D. Melucci, B.I. Reisch and P.J. Davies. 2019.  Seasonal changes in amino acids and phenolic compounds in fruits from hybrid cross populations of American grapes differing in disease resistance.  Plant Physiol. Biochem. 135:182-193. 
• Barba, P., Loughner, R., Wentworth, K., Nyrop, J.P., Loeb, G.M. and Reisch, B.I. 2019. A QTL associated with leaf trichome traits has a major influence on the abundance of the predatory mite Typhlodromus pyri in a hybrid grapevine population.  Horticulture Research 6, 87 
• Fresnedo-Ramírez, J., S. Yang, Q. Sun, A. Karn, B.I. Reisch, and L. Cadle-Davidson.  2019. Computational analysis of AmpSeq data for targeted high throughput genotyping of amplicons. Front. Plant Sci. 14 May 2019
• Demmings, E.M., B. Williams, C.-R. Lee, P. Barba Burgos, S. Yang, C.-F. Hwang, B.I. Reisch, D.H. Chitwood, and J.P. Londo.  2019. QTL analysis of leaf morphology indicates conserved shape loci in grapevine.  Front. Plant Sci.
• Zou, C., A. Karn, B. Reisch, A. Nguyen, Y. Sun, Y. Bao, M.S. Campbell, D. Church, S. Williams, X. Xu, C.A. Ledbetter, S. Patel, A. Fennell, J. Glaubitz, M. Clark, D. Ware, J.P. Londo, Q. Sun, and L. Cadle-Davidson. 2020. Haplotyping the Vitis collinear core genome with rhAmpSeq improves marker transferability in a diverse genus.  Nature Communications
• Zou, C., M. Massonnet, A. Minio, S. Patel, V. Llaca, A. Karn, F. Gouker, L. Cadle-Davidson, B. Reisch, A. Fennell, D. Cantu, Qi Sun, and J.P. Londo. 2021. Multiple independent recombinations led to hermaphroditism in grapevine. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 118 (15):e2023548118.  
• Karn, Avinash, Luis Diaz-Garcia, Noam Reshef, Cheng Zou, David C. Manns, Lance Cadle-Davidson, Anna K. Mansfield, Bruce I. Reisch, and Gavin L. Sacks 2021. "The genetic basis of anthocyanin acylation in North American grapes (Vitis spp.)" Genes 12(12): 1962. 
• Reshef, N., A. Karn, D.C. Manns, A.-K. Mansfield, L. Cadle-Davidson, B. Reisch and G.L. Sacks. 2022.  Stable QTL for malate levels in ripe fruit and their transferability across Vitis species. Horticulture Research 9: uahc009
• Alahakoon, D., A. Fennell, Z. Helget, T. Bates, A. Karn, D. Manns, A.K. Mansfield, B. Reisch, G. Sacks, Q. Sun, C. Zou, L. Cadle-Davidson, and J. Londo. 2022.  Berry anthocyanin, acid, and volatile trait analyses in a grapevine interspecific F2 population using an integrated GBS and rhAmpSeq genetic map.  Plants 11, no. 5:696 
• Olson, J., C. Zou, A. Karn, B. Reisch, L. Cadle-Davidson, Q. Sun, and M. Clark. 2022. Genetic analyses for leaf variegation in hybrid grape populations (Vitis spp.) reveals two loci, Lvar1 and Lvar2.  HortScience 57(11): 

• Outstanding Fruit Cultivar 2015 - 'Traminette' wine grape (2015) American Society for Horticultural Science
• Outstanding Career Accomplishments in Applied Research (2011) College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Cornell University