Fertility assessment in Vitis vinifera L., cv. Alvarinho

Tomatoes and Grapes are berries that are genetically related and therefore at least partially their developmental pathways leading to a fleshy fruit should share some of the components. In a sense knowledge obtained from the model plant tomato could be useful for grape and conversely the more amenable tomato can be used to test some hypothesis that would be difficult to obtain in grape. Research in my lab and other labs have led to a better understanding of the molecular genetics mechanisms underlying fruit development and ripening in tomato and more specifically those related to metabolite accumulation that may lead to changes in fruit nutritional and flavor composition. This research has involved the use of genetic variability in natural population, but also biparental population and genetically engineered lines that are easy to develop in tomato tomato but not in grape. NGTs also can be easily implemented in tomato to not only speed up the gene-to-trait but also develop new tomato varieties.

L’étude porte sur trois terroirs du Roussillon, classés dans l’A.O.C. Muscat de Rivesaltes et concerne les 2 cépages de cette appellation : le muscat à petits grains et le muscat d’Alexandrie. Elle a pour objectif de connaître pour un terroir donné le meilleur choix de cépage.

New and developing technologies, that provide sensors and the software systems for using and interpreting them, are becoming pervasive through our lives and society. From smart phones to cars to farm machinery, all contain a range of sensors that are monitored automatically with intelligent software, providing us with the information we need, when we need it. This technological revolution has the potential to monitor all aspects of vineyard activity, assisting growers to make the management choices they need to achieve the outcomes they want. For example, a future vineyard may possess automated imaging that generates a three dimensional model of the vine canopy, highlighting differences from the desired structure and how to use canopy management to improve fruit composition, or generates maps with yield estimates and measurements of berry composition throughout the growing season.

This project aims on monitoring the plant development and comparison of the effects of various training systems on vine fertility and physiological processes.

AIM: Three Oenococcus oeni strains previously isolated from spontaneous malolactic fermentation were characterized for their surface properties. Planktonic and sessile cells were investigated for aroma compounds production and the expression of genes involved in citrate and malate metabolism (citE and mleA, respectively), glycoside-hydrolase (dsrO), fructansucrase (levO), rhamnosyl-transferase (wobB), glycosyltransferase (wobO).