Study of the interactions between wine anthocyanins and proline rich proteins

The use of elicitors to promote the biosynthesis of secondary metabolites in grapes has been tackled in several reports, however its study linked to nanotechnology is less developed.

The unique characteristics of terroir play a fundamental role in shaping the identity and quality of wines, influencing the aromatic complexity of young wines and their long-term aging potential. The volatile compounds responsible for these aromas are crucial to identifying and appreciating a given wine.

Deleterious mutations that severely reduce population fitness are rapidly removed from the gene pool by purifying selection. However, evolutionary drivers such as genetic drift brought about by demographic bottlenecks may comprise its efficacy by allowing deleterious mutations to accumulate, thereby limiting the adaptive potential of populations. Moreover, positive selection can hitchhike mildly deleterious mutations due to linkage caused by lack of recombination. Similarly, in the context of species domestication, artificial selection mimics these evolutionary processes, which can have undesirable consequences for production and resilience. In this study, we evaluated the extent of the accumulation of deleterious mutations and the magnitude of their effects (also known as genetic load) at the whole-genome scale for ca.

Traditional viticulture areas have experienced in the last decades an intensification of field practices, linked to an increased use of fertilisers and phytosanitary products, and to a more intensive mechanization and uniformization of the landscape. This change in management has sometimes led to higher rates of soil erosion andloss of soil structure, fertility decline, groundwater contamination, and to an increased pressure of pests and diseases. Additionally, intensification usually leads to a simplification of landscapes, of particular concern in prestigious wine grape regions where the economical revenue encourages the conversion of land use from natural habitats to high value wine grape production. To revert this trend, it is necessary that growers implement actions that promote biodiversity in their vineyards. The aim of this study is to assess the impact of the implementation of cover crops, vegetational corridors, dry stone walls and vineyard biodiversity hotspots estimated through the study of arthropods. The work has been carried out in four vineyards in Rioja Alavesa belonging to Ostatu winery, where these infrastructures were implemented in 2020. The presence and diversity of arthropods was studied by capturing them at different times in the season and at different distances from the infrastructure using pit-fall traps in the soil and yellow, white and blue chromatic traps at the canopy level. This is a preliminary study in which all adult insects were sorted to the taxonomic level of order and Coleoptera were classified to morphospecies. The results obtained show that there is a relationship between the basic characteristics of the vineyard and the arthropods captured, with a positive effect, although also dependent on the vineyard, of the presence of infrastructure.

Microbial pathogens of plant have evolved to sense, interpret, and use light to direct their development. One aspect of this evolved relationship is photolyase-mediated repair of UV-induced damage to pathogen DNA. Application of germicidal UV (UV-C) at night circumvents the blue light-driven repair of pathogen DNA and allows non-phytotoxic doses of UV-C to suppress a variety of pathogenic microbes and even certain arthropod pests without damage to vines or fruit. Lamps arrays have been designed specifically for the canopy architecture of grapevines and have been deployed on both tractor-drawn and robotic carriages for partial to near-complete suppression of powdery mildew (Erysiphe necator), sour rot (fungal, bacterial, and arthropod complex), and downy mildew (Plasmopara viticola).