Biotic interactions: case of grapevine cultivars – the fungal pathogen Neofusicoccum parvum – biocontrol agents 

G.r.a.s.p.o. Is not only the acronym for gruppo di ricerca per la salvaguardia e preservazione dell’originalità viticola di ogni territorio (‘research group for the safeguard and preservation of the originality of every territory’s grapes’), and is not just the italian synonym for ‘raspo’ (‘peduncle’) as treccani dictionary mentions: in the veneto dialect it is the whole bunch of grapes.

Measurement of carbon isotope discrimination in berry juice sugars at maturity (δ13C) provides an integrated assessment of water use efficiency (WUE) during the period of berry ripening, and when collected over multiple seasons can be used as an indication of drought stress response. Berry juice δ13C measurements were carried out on 48 different varieties planted in a common garden experiment in Bordeaux, France from 2014 through 2021 and were paired with midday and predawn leaf water potential measurements on the same vines in a subset of six varieties. The aim was to discriminate a large panel of varieties based on their stomatal behaviour and potentially identify hydraulic traits characterizing drought tolerance by comparing δ13C and hydroscapes (the visualisation of plant stomatal behaviour as a response to predawn water potential). Cluster analysis found that δ13C values are likely affected by the differing phenology of each variety, resulting in berry ripening of different varieties taking place under different stress conditions within the same year. We accounted for these phenological differences and found that cluster analysis based on specific δ13C metrics created a classification of varieties that corresponds well to our current empirical understanding of their relative drought tolerances. In addition, we analysed the water potential regulation of the subset of six varieties (using the hydroscape approach) and found that it was well correlated with some δ13C metrics. Surprisingly, a variety’s water potential regulation (specifically its minimum critical leaf water potential under water deficit) was strongly correlated to δ13C values under well-watered conditions, suggesting that base WUE may have a stronger impact on drought tolerance than WUE under water deficit. These results give strong insights on the innate WUE of a very large panel of varieties and suggest that studies of drought tolerance should include traits expressed under non-limiting conditions.

Stilbenes are natural bioactive polyphenols produced by grapevine. Recently, we have reviewed the na- tural presence of these compounds in wines [1]. This study showed that the resveratrol and its glycoside, the piceid, are the most abundant stilbenes in wines. Resveratrol is a well-known stilbene with a wide range of biological activities. Due to its specific structure, resveratrol can be oxidized in wines to form various derivatives including oligomers [2]. In this study, we investigate the resveratrol and piceid transformation in wines.

The main objective is to unravel the yeast biosynthetic pathways for MEL, SER and HT by using the respective labelled amino acids precursors: 15N2-L tryptophan and 13C-tyrosine.
The alcoholic fermentation experiments are performed with two different commercial
S cereviseae yeasts using synthetic must with the addition of the labelled compounds and the bioactive compounds were followed during the fermentation process. Six biological replicates of the fermentations were considered. MEL, SER and HT were analysed by UHPLC coupled to High Resolution Mass Spectrometry (HRMS). Accurate mass determination allowed to unequivocally distinguishing labelled and unlabelled compounds.

Disease resistant hybrid grape cultivars are now allowed in a number of EU wine PDOs, and are also accepted in a number of countries outside the EU. There is increasing interest in diseases resistant hybrid grape cultivars (RHGCs) because they allow for the production of healthy, high quality grapes with limited use of pesticides and the associated environmental and public health