Novel approaches and promising perspectives for enhancing grapevine editing and regeneration

The phenological stage of the grapevine (Vitis vinifera L.) represents a fundamental element in vineyard management, since it determines key practices such as fertilization, irrigation, phytosanitary interventions and optimal harvest time (Mullins et al., 1992).

Wine industry has to develop new strategies to reduce the negative impact of global climate change in wine quality while trying to mitigate its own contribution to this climate change. The term “ecosystem services”, whose use has been recently increasing, refers to the benefits that human beings can obtain from the interactions between the different living beings that coexist in an environment or system. The management of biodiversity in the vineyard has a positive impact on this crop. It has recently been reported that practices such as plant cover can reduce the occurrence of pests, increase pollination of the vine, improve plant performance1 and affect the phenolic content of grapes.2

This paper describes the first year results of a study that investigated the effects of altitude and related temperature parameters on the biosynthesis of aromas in the Italian cultivar Glera.

Grapevine (Vitis spp.) is a globally significant fruit crop, and enhancing its agronomic and oenological traits is crucial to meet changing agricultural conditions and consumer demands. Conventional breeding has played a key role in domesticating grapevine varieties, but it is a time-consuming process to develop new cultivars with desirable traits for cultivation.
New plant breeding techniques (NpBTs) offer a potential revolution in grapevine cultivation, and genome editing has shown promise for targeted mutagenesis. The success of these biotechnological approaches relies on efficient in vitro regeneration protocols, particularly through somatic embryogenesis (SE).

Lanthanides, together with scandium and yttrium, make up the group of Rare Earth Elements (REEs). An official method for analysis of the bioavailable REEs accumulated by plants, depending mainly on soil characteristics, chemical speciation in soil and the specific ability of the plant, is still lacking.