Grape Berry Responses to Sequential Flooding and Heatwave Events: A Physiological, Transcriptional, and Metabolic Overview
Alessandro Botton,
Francesco Girardi,
Benedetto Ruperti,
Matteo Brilli,
Veronica Tijero,
Giulia Eccher,
Francesca Populin,
Elisabetta Schievano,
Tobia Riello,
Sergi Munné-Bosch,
Monica Canton,
Angela Rasori,
Valerio Cardillo,
Franco Meggio
Affiliations
Alessandro Botton
Department of Agronomy, Food, Natural Resources, Animals and Environment—DAFNAE, University of Padova, Agripolis, Viale dell’università 16, Legnaro, 35020 Padova, Italy
Francesco Girardi
Department of Agronomy, Food, Natural Resources, Animals and Environment—DAFNAE, University of Padova, Agripolis, Viale dell’università 16, Legnaro, 35020 Padova, Italy
Benedetto Ruperti
Department of Agronomy, Food, Natural Resources, Animals and Environment—DAFNAE, University of Padova, Agripolis, Viale dell’università 16, Legnaro, 35020 Padova, Italy
Matteo Brilli
Department of Biosciences, University of Milan, Via Celoria 26, 20133 Milan, Italy
Veronica Tijero
Department of Agronomy, Food, Natural Resources, Animals and Environment—DAFNAE, University of Padova, Agripolis, Viale dell’università 16, Legnaro, 35020 Padova, Italy
Giulia Eccher
Department of Agronomy, Food, Natural Resources, Animals and Environment—DAFNAE, University of Padova, Agripolis, Viale dell’università 16, Legnaro, 35020 Padova, Italy
Francesca Populin
Unit of Fruit Crop Genetics and Breeding, Research and Innovation Centre—CRI, Edmund Mach Foundation—FEM, Via E. Mach 1, San Michele all’Adige, 38098 Trento, Italy
Elisabetta Schievano
Department of Chemical Sciences, University of Padova, Via Marzolo 1, 35131 Padova, Italy
Tobia Riello
Department of Chemical Sciences, University of Padova, Via Marzolo 1, 35131 Padova, Italy
Sergi Munné-Bosch
Department of Evolutionary Biology, Ecology and Environmental Sciences, University of Barcelona, Diagonal 643, 08017 Barcelona, Spain
Monica Canton
Department of Agronomy, Food, Natural Resources, Animals and Environment—DAFNAE, University of Padova, Agripolis, Viale dell’università 16, Legnaro, 35020 Padova, Italy
Angela Rasori
Department of Agronomy, Food, Natural Resources, Animals and Environment—DAFNAE, University of Padova, Agripolis, Viale dell’università 16, Legnaro, 35020 Padova, Italy
Valerio Cardillo
Department of Agronomy, Food, Natural Resources, Animals and Environment—DAFNAE, University of Padova, Agripolis, Viale dell’università 16, Legnaro, 35020 Padova, Italy
Franco Meggio
Department of Agronomy, Food, Natural Resources, Animals and Environment—DAFNAE, University of Padova, Agripolis, Viale dell’università 16, Legnaro, 35020 Padova, Italy
Grapevine cultivation, such as the whole horticulture, is currently challenged by several factors, among which the extreme weather events occurring under the climate change scenario are the most relevant. Within this context, the present study aims at characterizing at the berry level the physiological response of Vitis vinifera cv. Sauvignon Blanc to sequential stresses simulated under a semi-controlled environment: flooding at bud-break followed by multiple summer stress (drought plus heatwave) occurring at pre-vèraison. Transcriptomic and metabolomic assessments were performed through RNASeq and NMR, respectively. A comprehensive hormone profiling was also carried out. Results pointed out a different response to the heatwave in the two situations. Flooding caused a developmental advance, determining a different physiological background in the berry, thus affecting its response to the summer stress at both transcriptional levels, with the upregulation of genes involved in oxidative stress responses, and metabolic level, with the increase in osmoprotectants, such as proline and other amino acids. In conclusion, sequential stress, including a flooding event at bud-break followed by a summer heatwave, may impact phenological development and berry ripening, with possible consequences on berry and wine quality. A berry physiological model is presented that may support the development of sustainable vineyard management solutions to improve the water use efficiency and adaptation capacity of actual viticultural systems to future scenarios.
