Jaap Wolters

Jaap Wolters is a Researcher in Plant Breeding at Wageningen University and Research. His work focuses on understanding and enhancing plant resistance to pathogens and pests, particularly in potato and tomato. He leads projects on durable resistance against early blight and collaborates on genetic analysis of immune receptors and disease resistance mechanisms.

Education: PhD in Plant Breeding (Wageningen University, 2014) studying the genetic basis of columnar architecture in apple trees. He also holds an MSc and BSc in related agricultural sciences.

Research interests include plant-pathogen interactions, immune receptor evolution (e.g., PRR receptors), and application of genomic tools for crop improvement. His work integrates genetics, molecular biology, and high-throughput phenotyping to develop disease-resistant crop varieties.

Key contributions include discoveries on glycoalkaloid-based resistance, functional diversification of immune receptors, and co-infection dynamics of potato blights. He has supervised multiple PhD candidates in plant pathology and breeding projects.

Notable projects: Durable resistance to early blight in potato (Project Leader), Cloning resistance genes from wild Solanum species, and Isolation of the Co-gene for apple tree architecture.

Labs/teams: Part of the Plant Breeding department's pathogen resistance research group, collaborating with international teams on Alternaria and Phytophthora pathogens.