DNA-Free genome editing confers disease resistance in grapevine

Lately several works highlighted the capacity of grape cell-wall material (CWM) to interact with proanthocyanidins (PA), indicating its potential use as fining agent for red wines.1–4 However, those studies were performed by using purified PAs and very high doses of CWM (almost ten-fold higher than those used in wine industry for other commercial fining agents). The present study focuses on the applicability of CWM from Cabernet sauvignon pomace as fining agent for red wines under real winery conditions. Grapes of cultivar Cabernet sauvignon were harvested at three different maturity levels
(unripe, mature, and overripe) and used for red winemaking. The pomace of such vinifications were used as source of CWM, and applied into red wines at two different concentrations: 0.2 g/L and 2.5 g/L.

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.

The South Western Cape of South Africa is exposed to strong southerly and south easterly synoptic winds during the growth period of the grapevine. The development of sea breezes in the afternoon is also a phenomenon associated with the ripening period of grapes cultivated in this coastal area. Wind is one of the environmental variables having the greatest spatial variation but the implications of regular exposure to wind for the performance of the grapevine has not yet been determined for vineyards in the South Western Cape. This study was initiated to meet this need.
The study was conducted in a hedge-trellised vineyard of Vitis vinifera L. cv Merlot with north east – south west row direction. Thirty experimental sites, each consisting of 14 vines, were identified as being exposed to wind or sheltered based on hand-held anemometer readings during the 2001/2002 season. Four stationary anemometers were strategically positioned between the thirty sites. Stomatal conductance and leaf temperature were measured with a PP systems porometer. Vegetative and yield measurements were performed during the 2002/2003 season. The t-test of equal variance was used to determine significant differences in measured parameters between exposed and sheltered grapevines.
Stomatal conductance and leaf area were significantly reduced by exposure to wind. This was associated with a significant reduction in the leaf area of primary shoots, related to shorter shoots, but a significant augmentation of secondary shoot leaf number and area. The number of bunches per vine and yield were also reduced for exposed vines. The berry potassium content was significantly increased for exposed grapevines.
This demonstrates that exposure to wind can result in significant within-vineyard, and potentially between-vineyard, variability in grapevine physiology, vegetative growth, yield and berry composition, with implications for wine style and quality.

In recent years, consumer demand for products without chemical additives increased, becoming a priority for the wine sector. SO₂ is widely used for its multiple properties including antiseptics, antioxidants and antioxidasics and the strategy of bioprotection in winemaking represents now an alternative to this chemical additive. In oenology, results have highlighted the interest of bioprotection to limit the development of microorganisms like Hanseniaspora uvarum and thus reduce the doses of sulphite. Indeed, this species is considered because of its acetic acid and methyl butyl acetate production, the latter can cover the varietal character of wines.

‘Pinot Precoce Noir’ (PPN) is an early ripening clone of ‘Pinot Noir’ (PN). The phenological differentiation is visible by an about two weeks earlier onset of veraison. It was found that the early veraison locus Ver1 on chromosome 16, previously identified in ‘Calardis Musqué’, originated from PPN. A highly correlated SSR marker, namely GF16-Ver1, was developed and tested for its ability to molecularly differentiate between PPN and PN as well as its potential to trace individual descendants.