About

Lailiang Cheng is a professor in the School of Integrative Plant Science, Horticulture Section at Cornell University. His research focuses on the nutrition and stress physiology of deciduous fruit crops, with an emphasis on apple. His goal is to better understand the physiological processes underlying carbon and mineral nutrition, environmental stresses on tree growth and fruiting, and to develop management practices for improving orchard productivity and fruit quality. Cheng's work involves physiological, biochemical, and molecular approaches to understand the function of sorbitol as both a carbon substrate and signaling molecule in apple, as well as malate metabolism and accumulation during fruit growth and development. He is actively involved in extension activities aimed at delivering research-based information and expertise on nutrient management to the apple industry in New York and beyond, focusing on optimizing nutrient inputs to enhance productivity and fruit quality. Cheng also teaches and advises students in mineral nutrition of fruit crops and advanced analytical techniques in plant science, aiming to train students to become both thinkers and doers in horticultural sciences.

Research topics

• Biology
• Biochemistry
• Chemistry
• Botany
• Cell biology
• Genetics
• Food science
• Horticulture
• Agronomy
• Evolutionary biology
• Ecology

Selected publications

• Epistasis of two classical color genes, B and L-2, synergistically controls carotenoid accumulation in squash

  bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) · 2026-05-21

  articleOpen access

  Carotenoid accumulation underlies fruit color and nutritional quality in squash (Cucurbita pepo). One pair of dominant genes, B and L-2, have been long known to interact epistatically, substantially boosting carotenoid accumulation and producing intensely orange-fleshed fruit. However, their molecular identities and regulatory mechanism are unknown. Here, we show that B encodes a truncated H subunit of magnesium chelatase (CpCHLHB) and L-2 encodes a homolog of Arabidopsis Pseudo-Response Regulator 2 (CpAPRR2-A). Significantly, expression of phytoene synthase (CpPSY-A), which encodes the major rate-limiting enzyme in carotenoid biosynthesis, was dramatically upregulated in fruit of B/B L-2/L-2 plants compared with b/b L-2/L-2 or B/B l-2/l-2, showing that the B and L-2 interaction affects CpPSY-A transcription. A similar upregulation was also observed in Arabidopsis gun5 L-2 transgenic plants, where gun5 is a genetic mimic of the C. pepo B gene. The wild-type CpCHLHb physically interacted with CpAPRR2-A, attenuating the CpAPRR2-A-mediated activation of CpPSY-A. In contrast, the truncated CpCHLHB lost its ability to interact with CpAPRR2-A, enabling CpAPRR2-A to activate CpPSY-A and produce intensely orange fruit. These findings uncover the mechanism underlying the epistatic interaction through which B and L-2 act synergistically to boost carotenoid production, offering novel mechanistic insights and key targets for improving crop quality.

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• Enrichment of two important metabolites d-galacturonic acid and d-glucuronic acid inhibits MdHb1-mediated fruit softening in apple

  Nature Plants · 2025-04-17 · 20 citations

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• Reduced apple crop density enhances total polyphenol accumulation via upregulation of anthocyanidin reductase and other phenylpropanoid pathway genes

  Frontiers in Plant Science · 2025-06-09 · 4 citations

  articleOpen access

  ) juice by providing flavor, aroma, color, and microbial stability. However, polyphenol concentration in apple fruit can fluctuate by 50% or more from tree-to-tree within an orchard of the same scion and rootstock resulting in significant year-to-year product variability. In order to better understand polyphenol biosynthesis in cider apples, four-year-old 'Porter's Perfection' and 'Binet Rouge' trees were left unthinned (control), or had fruitlets adjusted to low, medium, or high crop density. Fruit peel and flesh tissue were sampled at 27, 81, and 160 (harvest) days after full bloom (DAFB) and analyzed for polyphenol concentration and composition, as well as gene expression. At 160 DAFB, there was a 39% increase in monomeric and oligomeric polyphenol concentrations in the 'Porter's Perfection' flesh tissue of the reduced crop density treatments as compared to the unthinned control. The transcriptome profile of the low crop density 'Porter's Perfection' treatment indicated that genes encoding enzymes that catalyze critical functions in the phenylpropanoid pathway such as hydroxylation, methylation, and glycosylation were upregulated compared to the control at 27 DAFB and 81 DAFB. The period of upregulated gene expression corresponded with increased concentration of polyphenols, particularly proanthocyanidin monomers and oligomers. Specifically, there was a significant increase in anthocyanidin reductase (an enzyme involved in epicatechin catalysis) expression in the low crop density treatment relative to the unthinned control at 27 and 81 DAFB in both the peel and flesh. Reduced crop densities enhanced the expression of genes involved in the phenylpropanoid pathway in apples, which likely increased fruit polyphenols. Furthermore, we identified eight and three novel ethylene response factor genes, 26 and 14 MYB-bHLH genes in the flesh and peel, respectively, that are potentially involved in regulating proanthocyanidin biosynthesis. These data suggest that reduced crop load densities lead to enhanced polyphenol synthesis and accumulation in 'Porter's Perfection' apples via transcriptional regulation of anthocyanidin reductase and other genes in the phenylpropanoid pathway.

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• Nanopore RNA direct sequencing identifies that m6A modification is essential for sorbitol-controlled resistance to Alternaria alternata in apple

  Developmental Cell · 2025-01-13 · 9 citations

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• Author Correction: Large CO2 removal potential of woody debris preservation in managed forests

  Nature Geoscience · 2025-07-22

  articleOpen access
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• Abscisic Acid and Calcium Signals Convergently Regulate Sugar Accumulation by Orchestrating the SRK2A/CIPK6‐ABI5‐TST2 Module in Citrus

  Plant Biotechnology Journal · 2025-09-09 · 2 citations

  articleOpen access

  Abscisic acid (ABA) and calcium respectively work as crucial plant hormones and second signalling molecules in the regulation of fruit development and quality formation, including the sugar content and flavour quality. However, the regulatory mechanisms of fruit sugar accumulation arising from the interaction between ABA and calcium have not yet been fully elucidated. Here, we show that the application of ABA or calcium enhances sugar accumulation in sweet orange (Citrus sinensis) fruit, accompanied by upregulation of the expression level of tonoplast sugar transporter 2 (CsTST2), which mediates the transport of sugars into the vacuole. Based on molecular and transgenic analyses, we identified CsABI5 as the core transcription factor that positively regulates CsTST2 expression for sugar accumulation. Both CsSRK2A, a key player in ABA signalling, and CsCIPK6, a kinase linked to calcium signalling, interact with and phosphorylate CsABI5 at distinct amino acid sites to enhance its transcriptional activity. Interestingly, CsABI5 also activates the expression of CsCIPK6 by binding to its promoter, thereby establishing a positive feedback loop between ABA and calcium signalling that cascades into higher expression of CsTST2 and sugar content. Collectively, these findings uncover a novel molecular network that underlies sugar accumulation in citrus, revealing the intricate coordination between ABA and calcium signalling in regulating tonoplast sugar transport in a non-climacteric fruit.

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• Effects of soil pH on growth, early fruiting and mineral nutrient profile of ‘Honeycrisp’ apple trees grafted on eight rootstocks

  Scientia Horticulturae · 2025-02-01 · 6 citations

  articleOpen access

  • Soil pH levels and rootstock genotype affect nutrient profile of ‘Honeycrisp’ apple trees. • Fruit size, bitter pit, soluble solids are all affected by pH and rootstocks. • Soil pH and rootstock choice can have large economic impact on orchard productivity. Soil pH affects apple tree growth and fruit quality due to its effects on nutrient uptake. In this study, eight apple rootstocks (Geneva® G.11, G.41, G.935, G.202, G.214, Malling (M) M.9T337, M.26EMLA, and Budagovsky (B.9) grafted with ‘Honeycrisp’ apple cultivar were grown in 55 L pots with the soil pH adjusted to 5.0, 6.5 and 8.0. at Ithaca NY for two growing seasons from 2017 to 2018. Soil pH had a significant effect on tree growth with the best growth at the highest pH. Soil pH affected fruit peel nutrient concentrations of P, Ca, Mg, Fe, S, B, and Zn. Leaf nutrients concentrations were also affected by soil pH with low pH resulting in higher values of K, Ca, Mg, S, Fe and Mn and higher soil pH resulting in higher values for P and Zn. Fruit quality indices including total soluble solids, fruit's firmness and bitter-pit incidence measured after 5 months of storage were unaffected by soil pH. However, greater fruit size was found at higher pH. Among rootstocks, G.935 had the greatest TCSA increase whereas B.9 had the smallest TCSA increase. The highest fruit number per tree in the second season was with G.41 and the lowest bitter pit % was with G.935. G.11 had the largest fruit size while G.935 had the best fruit red skin color. There were no significant interactions between rootstock genotype and soil pH on tree growth but there were several significant interactions of soil pH and rootstock genotype on leaf mineral concentrations and fruit quality.

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• Fruit Maturity Based on IAD Values in Relation to Preharvest 1-Methylcyclopropene Treatment and Postharvest Physiological Disorder Development in ‘Honeycrisp’ Apples

  HortScience · 2025-06-27

  articleOpen access

  ‘Honeycrisp’ apples are prone to physiological disorder development during storage, fruit susceptibility to disorder incidence being affected by harvest date. The effects of fruit maturity from untreated trees and those sprayed at 1 week before the first harvest with 1-methylcyclopropene (1-MCP; Harvista TM ) were investigated by categorizing fruit into index of absorbance difference ( I AD ) values before storage. Maturity indices, chlorophyll, carotenoid, and sugar concentrations were assessed at harvest. The incidences of physiological disorders were assessed after 4 months plus 7 days at 20 °C. The internal ethylene concentration and the starch pattern index were lower in fruit treated with preharvest 1-MCP compared with untreated fruit, while fruit firmness was higher in preharvest 1-MCP–treated fruit. The difference was more pronounced in fruit with higher I AD values (higher chlorophyll) categories at harvests 2 and 3. Chlorophyll a and total chlorophyll concentrations were positively correlated with the I AD values in both untreated and preharvest 1-MCP–treated fruit. Acetaldehyde and ethanol were unaffected by harvest time, but preharvest 1-MCP–treated fruit had lower ethyl acetate accumulation at all harvests. Sucrose, fructose, glucose, galactose, sorbitol, and malic acid concentrations were often higher in preharvest 1-MCP–treated fruit than in untreated fruit. Soft scald incidence was higher in fruit with lower I AD values. However, the disorder was lowest in harvest 1 and 2 fruit of higher I AD values when the fruit were treated with preharvest 1-MCP. Additionally, fruit senescence was higher in late-harvested fruit. Principal components analysis, multivariate analysis, and the nonlinear iterative partial least square algorithm showed that fruit physiological disorder development after storage was correlated with fruit maturity based on the I AD value and maturity at harvest as affected by preharvest 1-MCP treatment.

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• Reduced Sorbitol Genotype Alters Postharvest Microbiomes of ‘Greensleeves’ Apples

  Journal of the American Society for Horticultural Science · 2025-09-01 · 2 citations

  articleOpen access

  Fruit microbiomes are capable of protecting their hosts from harmful pathogens and aiding in biocontrol; therefore, it is important to understand how differences in host genotype shape fruit microbial communities. The fruit species and even cultivars within a species can harbor different fruit microbiomes, but it has been difficult to establish how a single host gene can shape the microbiome structure. We investigated two genotypes of ‘Greensleeves’ apples with reduced sorbitol biosynthesis through antisense suppression of aldose 6-phosphate reductase with the wild type (WT) to assess how sugar composition of the fruit surface impacts microbial communities. We hypothesized that reduced sorbitol genotypes A4 and A10 would show an epiphytic microbiome different from that of the WT that corresponds to a difference in sugar composition on the fruit surface at harvest and during storage with and without postharvest treatment of fruit with 1-methycyclopropene (1-MCP), which is an inhibitor of ethylene perception. Throughout the sampling window (at harvest, 7 weeks storage, 13 weeks storage) across the 2 years of the study, the genotype, but not 1-MCP, was a significant predictor of microbiome composition. The A10 and A4 lines had an increased abundance of the pathogenic fungal genus Acremonium compared with that of the WT in one year. However, while A4 and A10 had different sugar compositions than that of WT in fruit flesh, no differences on the fruit surface were found. In addition, A4 and A10 showed microbiomes that were different from each other as well as different from that of the WT despite having the same reduced sorbitol phenotype, thus making it difficult to link microbiome differences to a specific physiological mechanism. This work represents an important step in showing the first example, to our knowledge, of how the cascading effects resulting from silencing a single gene can impact the assembly of postharvest fruit microbiomes.

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• Overexpression of a Tonoplast Malate Transporter Gene Leads to Enhanced Anthocyanin Biosynthesis in Apple

  Plant Biotechnology Journal · 2025-09-16 · 2 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior authorCorresponding

  Anthocyanins, a group of secondary metabolites synthesised in the phenylpropanoid pathway, largely determine the peel colour of fleshy fruits, but it is not known if their synthesis is linked to vacuolar malate accumulation that underlies fruit acidity. Here, we show that when the coding sequence of Ma1 (cMa1), encoding a tonoplast malate transporter for controlling apple fruit acidity, is overexpressed in 'Royal Gala' apple, anthocyanin biosynthesis in the fruit peel is enhanced, corresponding to the downregulation of the expression of MdMYB73, a transcriptional activator for Ma1. RNAi suppression of MdMYB73 expression increases anthocyanin biosynthesis whereas its transient overexpression decreases anthocyanin biosynthesis in apple fruit peel. MdMYB73 binds to all 7 MYB-sites in the promoter of the gene encoding UDP-glucose: flavonoid-3-O-glucosyltransferase (UFGT), the enzyme that catalyses the last step in anthocyanin synthesis, to repress its expression. When MdMYB73 expression is suppressed by RNAi, MdUFGT expression is enhanced, leading to more anthocyanin synthesis, but this effect is blocked by RNAi suppression of MdUFGT expression. In addition, MdMYB73 competes with MdMYB1, a key transcriptional activator of anthocyanin synthesis, by binding to the same MYB-sites in the promoter of MdUFGT. These results indicate that, in addition to being a transcriptional activator for Ma1, MdMYB73 negatively regulates anthocyanin biosynthesis via repressing MdUFGT expression and competing with MdMYB1 for binding to the MdUFGT promoter in apple peel. In cMa1-OE fruits, downregulation of MdMYB73 releases MdUFGT from MdMYB73 repression, which allows more MdMYB1 to bind to the promoter of MdUFGT, leading to enhanced anthocyanin biosynthesis.

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Frequent coauthors

• Leslie H. Fuchigami

  48 shared

• Li‐Song Chen

  Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University

  22 shared

• Shufu Dong

  21 shared

• Guohai Xia

  Cornell University

  20 shared

• Pengmin Li

  19 shared

• Mingjun Li

  Southwest University

  19 shared

• Kenong Xu

  Cornell University

  17 shared

• Abhaya M. Dandekar

  University of California, Davis

  17 shared