Analytical and Chemometric Investigation of Phenolic Content of South African Red Wines

Cis-acting regulatory elements are DNA sequences that can be bound by transcription factors to regulate the expression of genes in a condition-dependent and tissue-specific way. It is nowadays possible to search for DNA motives and sequences that a given transcription factor is binding or at least can, but it is still hard to have a glance at all the transcription factors that are contemporaneously located at the same locus. Inspired by an existing technique that uses the CRISPR-Cas system in mammal cells, we are trying to develop a protocol to study such regulation in Vitis vinifera. Using the highly sequence-specific binding capacity of a catalytically inactive Cas9 protein (dCas9), our idea is to set up a system to target a desired sequence and precipitate all the crosslinked proteins and distantly interacting chromatin at this locus and analyze them.

En el presente trabajo se ha realizado un estudio comparativo entre los varietales tintos Listán negro y Negramolle en la Denominación de Origen Tacoronte-Acentejo. Se han determinado durante dos años

Acidity of grape berries is lowered due to climate changes (1), resulting in musts and wines with higher pHs. These higher pHs induce microbiological instability

Grapevine cultivars can be unequivocally typed by both physical differences (ampelography) and genetic tests. However due to their very similar characteristics, the identification of clones within a cultivar relies on the accurate tracing of supply records to the point of origin. Such records are not always available or reliable, particularly for older accessions. Whole genome sequencing (WGS) provides the most highly detailed methodology for defining grapevine cultivars and more importantly, this can be extended to differentiating clones within those cultivars.

Mediterranean viticulture is increasingly exposed to more frequent extreme conditions such as heat waves. These extreme events co-occur with low soil water content, high air vapor pressure deficit and high solar radiant energy fluxes and result in leaf and berry sunburn, lower yield, and berry quality, which is a major constraint for the sustainability of the sector. Grape growers must find ways to proper and effectively manage heat waves and extreme canopy and berry temperatures. Irrigation to keep soil moisture levels and enable adequate plant turgor, and convective and evaporative cooling emerged as a key tool to overcome this major challenge. The effects of irrigation on soil and plant water status are easily quantifiable but the impact of irrigation on soil and canopy temperature and on heat convection from soil to cluster zone remain less characterized. Therefore, a more detailed quantification of vineyard heat fluxes is highly relevant to better understand and implement strategies to limit the effects of extreme weather events on grapevine leaf and berry physiology and vineyards performance. Low-cost sensor technologies emerge as an opportunity to improve monitoring and support decision making in viticulture. However, validation of low-cost sensors is mandatory for practical applicability. A two-year study was carried in a vineyard in Alentejo, south of Portugal, using low-cost thermal cameras (FLIR One, 80×60 pixels and FLIR C5, 160×120 pixels, 8-14 µm, FLIR systems, USA) and pocket thermohygrometers (Extech RHT30, EXTECH instruments, USA) to monitor grapevine and soil temperatures. Preliminary results show that low-cost cameras can detect severe water stress and support the evaluation of vertical canopy temperature variability, providing information on soil surface temperature. All these thermal parameters can be relevant for soil and crop management and be used in decision support systems.