Project description:Rhizosphere is a complex system of interactions between plant roots, bacteria, fungi and animals, where the release of plant root exudates stimulates bacterial density and diversity. However, the majority of the bacteria in soil results to be unculturable but active. The aim of the present work was to characterize the microbial community associated to the root of V. vinifera cv. Pinot Noir not only under a taxonomic perspective, but also under a functional point of view, using a metaproteome approach. Our results underlined the difference between the metagenomic and metaproteomic approach and the large potentiality of proteomics in describing the environmental bacterial community and its activity. In fact, by this approach, that allows to investigate the mechanisms occurring in the rhizosphere, we showed that bacteria belonging to Streptomyces, Bacillus and Pseudomonas genera are the most active in protein expression. In the rhizosphere, the identified genera were involved mainly in phosphorus and nitrogen soil metabolism.
Project description:Berry skin total protein from Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Semillon. Treatments were control (well-watered) versus restricted irrigation (water-deficit). Samples were taken from harvest-ripe whole berry clusters following a seasonal water deficit in treatment vines. A comparative analysis between the cultivars and treatments was performed. Associated dataset identifiers: GSE72421, PRJNA268857.
Project description:The aim of this work was to study the metabolism of grape berry skin, a tissue that has a protective role against damage by physical injuries and pathogen attacks. This role requires a metabolism able to sustain biosynthetic activities such as those relating to secondary compounds (i.e. flavonoids). In order to draw the attention on these biochemical processes, a proteomic and metabolomic comparative analysis was performed among Riesling Italico, Pinot Gris, Pinot Noir and Croatina cultivars, which are known to accumulate anthocyanins to a different extent. The application of multivariate statistics on the dataset pointed out that the cultivars were distinguishable from each other and the order in which they were grouped mainly reflected their relative anthocyanin contents. Sorting the spots according to their significance selected proteins were characterized by LC-ESI-MS/MS. Considering the functional distribution, the identified proteins were involved in many physiological processes such as stress, defense, carbon metabolism, energy conversion and secondary metabolism. The trends of some metabolites were related to those of the protein data. Taken together, the results permitted to highlight the relationships between the secondary compound pathways and the main metabolism (e.g. glycolysis and TCA cycle). Moreover, the trend of accumulation of many proteins involved in stress responses, reinforced the idea that they could play a role in the cultivar specific developmental plan.
Project description:Grapevine cluster compactness is a multi-componential trait of agronomical interest; it greatly influences the vineyard management and the visual aspect of table grape. Clusters with greater compactness are more susceptible to disease. The compactness can be break down in a patchwork of agronomical traits, each having agronomical importance that includes parameters related to inflorescence and cluster architecture (cluster length and width, length of pedicels, etc.), fruitfulness (number of berries, number of seeds) and berry (size, shape, volume...). Through visual evaluation of a collection of 730 clones from the cultivar Tempranillo and 501 clones from Garnacha Tinta we identified and fully phenotyped distinct clones which transcriptomes were compared at key developmental stages in order to identify the genes playing a role in mechanisms involved in cluster compactness such as the ones determining number of berries, cluster length or berry size. Key genes involved in this process were identified. The findings lead us to hypothesize that berry size and/or number at ripening are greatly influenced by the rate of cell replication in flowers during the first stages after pollination.