Development and application of CRISPR/Cas in grapevine

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.

The soil plays a key role in viticulture since it defines the planting depth, development and aeration of the root system and also controls the absorption of mineral elements and water conditions of the plant

The soil plays a pivotal role in the agroecological transition processes, due to its numerous implications in production support, water regulation, air and nutrient supply, and its function of reservoir for the major part of planet biodiversity. Therefore, soil quality and adequate soil management are key levers for an ecologically and economically sustainable viticulture. Gascogn’Innov (2017-2022) is an Operational Group funded by the European Innovation Partnership for Agriculture. As such, it gathered winegrowers from the south-west of France (Gascony), scientists, advisors and technicians, around a project focused on the biological functioning of viticultural soil and the design of better-adapted technical paths for soil protection.

The movement of Natural wines has clearly increased in the last few years, to reach a high demand from consumers nowadays. Switzerland has not been left out of this movement and has created a dedicated association in 2021. This association has the ambition to develop a specific tasting sheet for natural wines. The study of the tasting notes shows that the olfactory description of wines is recent but predominant today. But wine is a product makes to be drunk and not (just) to smell it. Based on these findings, a new 100-point tasting sheet has been developed. The main characteristics are 1) an evaluation in the mouth before the description of the olfaction, 2) to give 50% of the points on the judgment for the mouth characteristics, 3) to pejorate the visual aspects only if the wine is judged as “not drinkable” and 4) to express personal emotions.

Diverse ripening disorders affect grapevine resulting in high economic losses worldwide. The common obvious symptom is shriveling berries, however the shriveling pattern and the consequences for berry quality traits are distinct in each disorder. Among them, the disorder berry shrivel is characterized by a reduced sugar accumulation short after the onset of berry ripening leaving the clusters unsuitable for wine processing. Although our knowledge on BS increased recently, potential internal or external triggers contributing to the induction of BS are yet to be explored.