Genomic and phenotypic plasticity as a clue for grapevine adaptation to climate change?

Abstract

In order to maintain grapevine production and quality under fluctuating and stressful environments, we urgently need some innovative genetic solutions. By characterizing the plasticity of grapevine functioning under different environments, the structural plasticity of its genome, the regulation of gene expression and alternative splicing events occurring in response to drought stress, we may identify genes and innovative genetic markers associated to adaptive traits, useful to breed climate-smart varieties.

Aconsortium of laboratories in Occitanie region (France), as part of “PlastiVigne” project, developed research activities in order to identify and characterize genomic and phenotypic plasticity within a core collection of cultivated grapevines from different origins. We will present some ouputs of “Plastivigne” and more particularly those of three PhD students, including a pangenome of the cultivated compartment of Vitis vinifera, a derived genotyping matrix including base substitutions and structural variants, a catalog of alternative spliced variants, the measurement of phenotypic variation for some adaptive traits and the genetic determinism underlying their plasticity. Combining this information will give us some clues related to the potential involvement of genomic plasticity in adaptive phenotypic plasticity in grapevine.

Acknowledgements

“PlastiVigne” is a flagship project of the “key challenge Vinid’Occ”, a project funded by the Occitanie Region and led by the University of Montpellier (France).