Lailiang Cheng

All pome and stone fruits in the Rosaceae family, such as apple, pear, peach and cherry, synthesize, transport, and utilize both sorbitol and sucrose, with sorbitol being predominant. This contrasts with most other plants where sucrose is the only sugar translocated from source leaves to sink organs. The presence of sorbitol in these tree fruits raises an interesting question as to its role in carbohydrate metabolism, tree growth and development, and stress tolerance. We are taking physiological, biochemical and molecular approaches to understand the function of sorbitol as both a carbon substrate and a signaling molecule in apple. We are also very interested in malate metabolism and accumulation in addition to carbohydrates during apple fruit growth and development as well as their responses to environmental stresses in the context of fruit quality improvement. On the more applied side, our research addresses uptake, translocation, and utilization, and demand-supply relationship of nitrogen, calcium, and potassium in apple trees to provide basis for optimizing nutrient inputs into yield- and labor-efficient high density apple orchards.

Outreach and Extension Focus

The goal of my extension program is to effectively deliver research-based, up to date information and provide expertise concerning nutrient management to the apple industry in New York and beyond through collaborations with other faculty, extension educators, and growers. My extension activities are closely tied with my applied research. The current focus is management of nitrogen, potassium, calcium and other essential nutrients to improve productivity and quality of high value varieties such as ‘Honeycrisp’ in high density planting systems.

Teaching Focus

My goal in teaching and advising is to train students so that they develop to realize their academic potential, resulting in not only getting a degree from Cornell, but more importantly becoming a “thinker” and a “doer” in the field of horticultural sciences.

My teaching has been largely in mineral nutrition of fruit crops and advanced analytical techniques in plant science:

• PLSCI 4551/6551: Principles of Nutrition and Nutrient Management in Crops and Landscape Plants
• PLSCI 6170: Advanced Analytical Methods for Plant Systems

Selected Journal Publications

View profile and publications on Google Scholar.

• Hu, D-G, Zhang, M, Li, C, Zhao, T-T, Du, L-D, Sun, Q, Wang, C-K, Meng, D, Sun, C-H, Fei, Z, Dandekar, AM, Cheng, L 2025. A linker histone acts as a transcription factor to orchestrate malic acid accumulation in apple in response to sorbitol. Plant Cell 37, koae328. https://doi.org/10.1093/plcell/koae328
• Li C, Krishnan S, Zhang M, Hu D, Meng D, Riedelsberger J, Dougherty L, Xu K, Pineros MA, Cheng L 2024. Alternative splicing underpins the ALMT9 transporter function for malic acid accumulation in apple. Advanced Science 11, 2310159. https://doi.org/10.1002/advs.202310159
• Rao S, Cao H, O’Hanna FJ, Zhou X, Lui A, Wrightstone E, Fish T, Yang Y, Thannhauser T, Cheng L, Dudareva N, Li L 2024. Nudix hydrolase 23 post-translationally regulates carotenoid biosynthesis in plants. Plant Cell 36: 1868-1891. https://doi.org/10.1093/plcell/koae030
• Wang, N., Liu, W., Mei, Z., Zhang, S., Zou, Q., Yu, L., Jiang, S., Fang, H., Zhang, Z., Chen, Z., Wu, S., Cheng, L., Chen, X. (2024). A functional InDel in the WRKY10 promoter controls the degree of flesh red pigmentation in apple. Advanced Science 11(30), 2400998. https://doi.org/10.1002/advs.202400998
• Meng D, Cao H, Yang Q, Zhang M, Borejsza-Wysocka E, Wang H, Dandekar AM, Fei Z, Cheng L 2023. SnRK1 kinase-mediated phosphorylation of transcription factor bZIP39 regulates sorbitol metabolism in apple, Plant Physiology 192: 2123-2142.
• Wang JH, Gu KD, Zhang QY, Yu JQ, Wang CK, You CX, Cheng L, Hu DG 2023. Ethylene inhibits malate accumulation in apple by transcriptional repression of aluminum-activated malate transporter 9 via the WRKY31-ERF72 network. New Phytologist 239: 1014-1034.
• Wu J, Cheng L, Espley R, Ma F, Malnoy M 2023. Focus on Fruit Crops, Plant Physiology 192: 1659-1665.
• Yang, L., Wang, Z., Zhang, A. Bhawal, R., Li, C., Zhang, S., Cheng, L., Hua, J. 2022. Reduction of the canonical function of a glycolytic enzyme enolase triggers immune responses that further affect metabolism and growth in Arabidopsis. The Plant Cell 34: 1745-1767.
• Orcheski, B., Meng, D., Bai, Y., Fei, Zhang. Cheng, L. 2021. The transcriptomes of healthy and bitter pit-affected ‘Honeycrisp’ fruit reveal genes associated with disorder development and progression. Tree Genetics & Genomes 17, 37.
• Li, C., Meng, D., Pineros, M.A., Mao, Y., Dandekar, A.M. and L. Cheng. 2020. A sugar transporter takes up both hexose and sucrose for sorbitol-modulated in vitro pollen tube growth in apple. The Plant Cell 32: 449-469.
• Li, C.L., Dougherty, L., Coluccio, A.E., Meng, D., El-Sharkawy, I., Borejsza-Wysocka, E., Liang, D., Pineros, M.A., Xu, K., Cheng, L. 2020. Apple ALMT9 requires a conserved C-terminal domain for malate transport underlying fruit acidity. Plant Physiology 182: 992-1006.
• Sun, X., Jiao, C., Schwaninger, H., Chao, CT, Ma, Y, Duan, N, Khan, A, Ban, S, Xu, K, Cheng, L, Zhong, G-Y, Fei, Z. 2020. Phased diploid genome assemblies and pan-genomes provide insights into the genetic history of apple domestication. Nature Genetics 52: 1423-1432.
• Meng, D., C. Li, H-J. Park, J. González, J. Wang, G.B. Turgeon and L. Cheng 2018. Sorbitol modulates resistance to Alternaria alternata by regulating the expression of an NLR resistance gene in apple. Plant Cell 30: 1562-1581.
• Meng, D., M. He, Y. Bai, H. Xu, A.M. Dandekar, Z. Fei and L. Cheng 2018. Decreased sorbitol synthesis leads to abnormal stamen development and reduced pollen tube growth via a MYB transcription factor, MdMYB39L, in apple (Malus domestica). New Phytologist 217: 641-656.
• Duan, N., Y. Bai, H. Sun, … L. Cheng, Z. Fei and X. Chen 2017. Genome re-sequencing reveals the history of apple and supports a two-stage model for fruit enlargement. Nature Communications 8: 249 |DOI: 10.1038/s41467-017-00336-7 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-017-00336-7
• Li, M., D. Li, F. Feng, S. Zhang, F. Ma and L. Cheng 2016 Proteomic analysis reveals dynamic regulation of fruit development and sugar and acid accumulation in apple. Journal of Experimental Botany 67: 5145-5157.
• Wu, T., Y. Wang, Y. Zheng, Z. Fei Z, A.M. Dandekar, K. Xu, Z. Han and L. Cheng 2015. Suppressing sorbitol synthesis substantially alters the global expression profile of stress response genes in apple (Malus domestica) leaves. Plant Cell Physiology 56: 1748-1761.
• Feng, F., M. Li, F. Ma and L. Cheng 2013. Phenylpropanoid metabolites and expression of key genes involved in anthocyanin biosynthesis in the shaded peel of apple fruit in response to sun exposure. Plant Physiology and Biochemistry 69: 54-61.
• Li, M., F. Feng and L. Cheng. 2012. Expression patterns of genes involved in sugar metabolism and accumulation during apple fruit development. PLoS ONE 7(3): e33055.
• Fu, Q., Cheng, L., Guo, Y. and R. Turgeon. 2011. Phloem loading strategies and water relations in trees and herbaceous plants. Plant Physiology 157: 1518-1527.

See full publication list below.