terclim by ICS banner
IVES 9 IVES Conference Series 9 Screening table grape cultivars using cell wall ELISA and glycan microarrays for berry firmness and quality parameters

Screening table grape cultivars using cell wall ELISA and glycan microarrays for berry firmness and quality parameters

Abstract

The crunchy texture of table grapes is one of the key quality parameters during production. This varies from cultivar to cultivar, stage of harvest and vineyard performance. Cell wall properties are key drivers of berry quality (e.g., pericarp firmness and intactness) at harvest and beyond. Common practise amongst producers is to continuously monitor firmness by evaluating pericarp appearance of cross-sectioned berries prior to harvest. These qualitative methods can be quite arbitrary and imprecise in their execution, but more quantitative, yet simple and high-throughput methods to evaluate these cell wall polymers are not yet readily available. A promising avenue is to link carbohydrate arrays targeting cell wall polymers with more traditional biochemical methods with rapid infrared spectroscopy tools to ‘chemotype’ the cell walls of cultivars at specific stages of development (ripeness). We have integrated immunochemical datasets from over 15 different cultivars, such as ‘Crimson Seedless’ and ‘Prime’ which are well-known: with less well characterised cultivars such as ‘Autumn Crisp’ and ‘Sugar Crisp’ offering a means to ‘snapshot’ or ‘fingerprint’ the cell wall chemotype using spectroscopic methods. The ultimate aim would be to both provide new knowledge on berry cell walls of important cultivars as well as progressing the potential development of infrared sensing technology for predicting table grape cell wall quality (predicting if grapes will progress to soft or firm berries). The datasets and predictive models produced from this survey will be correlated with firmness and textural analysis performed on grape berries from different varieties and stages of ripeness.

DOI:

Publication date: June 14, 2024

Issue: Open GPB 2024

Type: Article

Authors

John P. Moore1*, Miguel Henriques1, Eugene Badenhorst1, Bodil JØrgensen2, Talitha Venter1

1 South African Grape and Wine Research Institute, Department of Viticulture and Oenology, Faculty of AgriSciences, Stellenbosch University, South Africa
2 Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark

Contact the author*

Keywords

Cell walls, ripeness, berry firmness, spectroscopy, cultivars

Tags

IVES Conference Series | Open GPB | Open GPB 2024

Citation

Related articles…

Ten years soil diagnosis in vineyards, with particularly analysis of organic and microbial mass and measuring their evolution

Since 1996, we study the soil in viticulture, specially in the South of France. In the field, we delimit soil units and observe soil profiles and take samples to analyse its physical, mineral, organic and microbial mass composition

Influence of dipping pretreatments in drying of ‘Pedro Ximenez’ grapes in chamber at controlled temperature

The influence of dipping pretreatments on drying of ‘Pedro Ximenez’ grapes, destined to the elaboration of sweet wines, in chamber at controlled temperature, has been studied. Changes in color and phenolic composition of raisins produced were observed during the process of raisining.

Assessing reserve nitrogen at dormancy for predicting spring nitrogen status in Chardonnay grapevines

Nitrogen (N) supply strongly influences vine productivity and berry composition, matching availability and uptake requirements of vines during the growing season is essential to optimize vine nutrition. The nutritional status of grapevines is commonly assessed by the determination of petiole nutrient concentrations at flowering. The reserve N could also be an earlier indicator for grapevine N status, this work aimed to assess how the petiole levels relate to these perennial N reserves.

Immobilization of S. cerevisiae and O. œni for the control of wine fermentation steps

Controlling the speed of alcoholic (AF) and malolactic (MLF) fermentations in wine can be an important challenge for the production of certain short rotation wines for entry-level market segments. Immobilization techniques for Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Œnococcus œni, the microorganisms responsible for these fermentations, are widely studied for industrial applications. Indeed, these processes allow to accumulate biomass and thus to increase cell densities inducing high fermentation velocities. Recent works have shown the performance of MLF carried out with biofilms of O. œni, immobilized on various supports in a rich medium (MRSm: modified MRS broth with malic acid and fructose).

Swiss program for the creation of fungal disease resistant grape varieties in Switzerland

Grapevine breeding is part of the research program of Agroscope in Switzerland since 1965. From 1965 to 1995, the aim of the Vitis vinifera crosses was to obtain a high resistance to grey rot (Botrytis cinerea), one of the most virulent fungal pathogens in the Swiss vineyard. In 2021, the grape varieties released from this first breeding program covered 936 ha of the 15’000 ha of the Swiss vineyard.
In 1996, a second breeding program aimed at obtaining, by classical interspecific hybridization, grape varieties resistant to downy mildew (Plasmopara viticola) and powdery mildew (Erisyphe necator) and less sensitive to grey rot (Botrytis cinerea). In order to accelerate and make the selection process more reliable, an early biochemical test was developed based on the natural defense mechanisms of the vine against downy mildew (stilbene phytoalexins). The synthesis of stilbenes (i.e., resveratrol and its oxidized dimers - and -viniférine) and pterostilbenes (methylated derivative) is among the most efficient induced defense mechanisms of grapevine against fungal pathogens on both the leaves and the clusters.