Temporal and environmental factors interact with rootstock genotype to shape leaf elemental composition in grafted grapevines

Abstract

Plants take up elements through their roots and transport them to their shoot systems for use in numerous biochemical, physiological, and structural functions. Elemental composition of above‐ground plant tissues, such as leaves, reflects both above‐ and below‐ground activities of the plant, as well the local environment. Perennial, grafted plants, where the root system of one individual is fused to the shoot system of a genetically distinct individual, offer a powerful experimental system in which to study how genetically distinct root systems influence the elemental composition of a common shoot system. We measured elemental composition of over 7,000 leaves in the grapevine cultivar “Chambourcin” growing ungrafted and grafted to three rootstock genotypes. Leaves were collected over multiple years and phenological stages (across the season) and along a developmental time series. Temporal components of this study had the largest effect on leaf elemental composition, and rootstock genotype interacted with year, phenological stage, and leaf age to differentially modulate leaf elemental composition. Further, the local, above‐ground environment affected leaf elemental composition, an effect influenced by rootstock genotype. This work highlights the dynamic nature by which root systems interact with shoot systems to respond to temporal and environmental variation.

Grapevine scion gene expression is driven by rootstock and environment interaction

“…A similar effect was observed in a series of vineyards in Europe where the year of sampling was the largest descriptor of variation in the transcriptome [40]. An identical effect was previously observed in shoot elemental composition [41] and could indicate an interaction between rootstock and the vine's local environment.…”

“…was included in the model, but was not formally interpreted as it was previously found to be of negligible effect [12,32]. Each linear model was evaluated under a variance explained framework, and genes in or above the 75th percentile (0.44%) of variance explained by rootstock were retained.…”

“…Plants growing under field conditions experience a range of environmental conditions that trigger stress responses throughout the growing season [25,42]. Responses to environmental variation can be detected in multiple phenotypes [41,[43][44][45], are often highly complex, and in general are not predictable from laboratory experiments [25]. In fact, variation in the local environment can influence the expression of well-studied molecular pathways, such as flowering [46], disease resistance [47], and circadian rhythm [48].…”

Genome assembly of the hybrid grapevineVitis‘Chambourcin’

“…'Chambourcin' is grown in parts of France and Australia, as well as in Colorado, Missouri, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia, among others. 'Chambourcin' is increasing in importance as a cultivated winegrape in the central and eastern United States and it has been used in experimental rootstock vineyards aimed at understanding rootstock effects on shoot system phenotypes (Migicovsky et al 2019;Maimaitiyiming 2020;Awale et al 2021;Harris et al 2021Harris et al , 2022. The goals of this study were 1) to develop a high-quality reference genome for 'Chambourcin'; 2) to identify and annotate gene models for more accurate functional genomic analysis for this disease resistant cultivar that is also the parent of new disease resistant cultivar 'Regent'.…”

X-ray imaging of 30 year old wine grape wood reveals cumulative impacts of rootstocks on scion secondary growth and Ravaz index

“…Over 80% of vineyards grow grafted grapes, a process that became widespread in response to the phylloxera ( Daktulosphaira vitifoliae Fitch) crisis, in which grafting to tolerant and/or resistant rootstocks derived from North American Vitis species allowed wine and table grape scions to grow in infested soils [ 50 ]. Subsequently, grapevine rootstocks were recognized as not only conferring resistance to pathogens besides phylloxera, such as nematodes [ 9 , 15 , 28 ], but also salinity and drought tolerance [ 61 , 78 ], as well as altering scion mineral composition [ 19 , 20 , 25 , 45 , 71 ] and the chemistry and maturation of berries [ 5 , 37 , 59 , 72 ]. One of the most prominent properties that grapevine rootstocks can affect is Ravaz index: the ratio of yield to pruning weight (or, 1-year-old cuttings weighed the following dormant season at pruning).…”