BioProject

Studying the effect of varying durations (1, 7 and 14 days) of locally applied heat stress on grape berries at three developmental stages (middle green, veraison and middle ripening). More...

Studying the effect of varying durations (1, 7 and 14 days) of locally applied heat stress on grape berries at three developmental stages (middle green, veraison and middle ripening). Among various environmental factors, temperature is a major regulator affecting plant growth, development and fruit composition. Reproductive development of grapevine and berry composition, are both highly influenced by temperature. To date, the molecular mechanisms involved in grapevine berries tolerance to high temperatures (HS) are poorly understood. Although recent data addressed the consequences on berry development of elevated temperatures applied at the whole plant level, the present work particularly focuses on the fruit responses triggered by direct exposure to heat stress. In the context of climate change, this work focused on microclimate effect is of particular interest to better understand the consequences of leaf removal (a common viticultural practice) on berry development. HS (+ 8°C) was locally applied to clusters from Cabernet Sauvignon fruiting cuttings at three different developmental stages (middle green, véraison and middle ripening). Samples were collected 1, 7 and 14 days after treatment and used for metabolic and transcriptomic analyses. The results showed dramatic and specific biochemical and transcriptomic changes in heat exposed berries, depending on the developmental stage and the stress duration. When applied at the herbaceous stage, HS delayed the onset of véraison. Heating also strongly altered the berry concentration of amino acids and organic acids (e.g. PHE, GABA, and malate) and decreased the anthocyanin content at maturity. These physiological alterations could be partly explained by the deep remodelling of transcriptome in heated berries. More than 7000 genes were deregulated in at least one of the nine experimental conditions. The most affected processes belong to the categories “stress responses”, “protein metabolism” and “secondary metabolisms”, highlighting the intrinsic capacity of grape berries to perceive heat stress and to build adaptive responses. Additionally, important changes in processes related to “transport”, “hormone” and “transcription” might contribute to the postponing of véraison. Finally, opposite effects depending on heating duration were observed for genes encoding enzymes of the general phenylpropanoid pathway, suggesting that the HS-induced decrease in anthocyanin content may result from a combination of transcript abundance and product degradation. Overall design: 54 samples; three developmental stages; heat stress and control for 3 timepoints at each stage; 3 replicates per sample. Less...