Biochemical Response and Gene Expression to Water Deficit of Croatian Grapevine Cultivars (Vitis vinifera L.) and a Specimen of Vitis sylvestris

Abstract

The biochemical response and gene expression in different grapevine cultivars to water deficit are still not well understood. In this study, we investigated the performance of four traditional Croatian Vitis vinifera L. cultivars (‘Plavac mali crni’, ‘Istrian Malvasia’, ‘Graševina’, and ‘Tribidrag’), and one wild (Vitis vinifera subsp. sylvestris) genotype exposed to water deficit (WD) for nine days under semi-controlled conditions in the greenhouse. Sampling for biochemical and gene expression analyses was performed at days six and nine from the beginning of WD treatment. The WD affected the accumulation of metabolites with a significant increase in abscisic acid (ABA), salicylic acid (SA), and proline in the leaves of the stressed genotypes when the WD continued for nine days. Lipid peroxidation (MDA) was not significantly different from that of the control plants after six days of WD, whereas it was significantly lower (297.40 nmol/g dw) in the stressed plants after nine days. The cultivar ‘Istrian Malvasia’ responded rapidly to the WD and showed the highest and earliest increase in ABA levels (1.16 ng mg−1 dw, i.e., 3.4-fold increase compared to control). ‘Graševina’ differed significantly from the other genotypes in SA content at both time points analyzed (six and nine days, 47.26 and 49.63 ng mg−1 dw, respectively). Proline level increased significantly under WD (up to 5-fold at day nine), and proline variation was not genotype driven. The expression of aquaporin genes (TIP2;1 and PIP2;1) was down-regulated in all genotypes, coinciding with the accumulation of ABA. The gene NCED1 (9-cis-epoxycarotenoid dioxygenase) related to ABA was up-regulated in all genotypes under stress conditions and served as a reliable marker of drought stress. This work suggests that the stress response in metabolite synthesis and accumulation is complex, treatment- and genotype-dependent.

Elucidating the regulatory role of long non-coding RNAs in drought stress response during seed germination in leaf mustard

“…Certain lncRNAs demonstrate differential expression across the two cultivars and are implicated in the regulation of genes associated with drought stress. For instance, the gene TIP2;1 (two copies in the mustard genome, i.e., Bjuva01g39180 and Bjuvb01g38360 ), previously recognized as a key gene in drought stress response ( Lukšić et al, 2023 ), is regulated by a lncRNA, MSTRG.139136. TIP3;1 (three copies in the genome, i.e., Bjuvb05g55980 , Bjuva07g3020 , and Bjuvb03g35190 ) is recognized as a positive regulator of the abscisic acid (ABA) response.…”

Acclimation of the Grapevine Vitis vinifera L. cv. Assyrtiko to Water Deficit: Coordination of Structural and Functional Leaf Traits and the Dynamic of Calcium Oxalate Crystals

“…Our knowledge on grapevine drought stress physiology has significantly increased [42][43][44], but short and middle-term acclimation responses of non-irrigated field-grown grapevines have rarely been studied [45][46][47][48][49][50]. The lack of a mechanistic understanding of many drought responses remains a significant unknown issue linked to the accuracy of modeling future climatic scenarios.…”