Transcriptomics Reveals the Effect of Short-Term Freezing on the Signal Transduction and Metabolism of Grapevine

Abstract

Low temperature is an important factor limiting plant growth. Most cultivars of Vitis vinifera L. are sensitive to low temperatures and are at risk of freezing injury or even plant death during winter. In this study, we analyzed the transcriptome of branches of dormant cv. Cabernet Sauvignon exposed to several low-temperature conditions to identify differentially expressed genes and determine their function based on Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG)enrichment analyses. Our results indicated that exposure to subzero low temperatures resulted in damage to plant cell membranes and extravasation of intracellular electrolytes, and that this damage increased with decreasing temperature or increasing duration. The number of differential genes increased as the duration of stress increased, but most of the common differentially expressed genes reached their highest expression at 6 h of stress, indicating that 6 h may be a turning point for vines to tolerate extreme low temperatures. Several pathways play key roles in the response of Cabernet Sauvignon to low-temperature injury, namely: (1) the role of calcium/calmodulin-mediated signaling; (2) carbohydrate metabolism, including the hydrolysis of cell wall pectin and cellulose, decomposition of sucrose, synthesis of raffinose, and inhibition of glycolytic processes; (3) the synthesis of unsaturated fatty acids and metabolism of linolenic acid; and (4) the synthesis of secondary metabolites, especially flavonoids. In addition, pathogenesis-related protein may also play a role in plant cold resistance, but the mechanism is not yet clear. This study reveals possible pathways for the freezing response and leads to new insights into the molecular basis of the tolerance to low temperature in grapevine.

Sustainable solutions for mitigating spring frost effects on grape and wine quality: facilitating digital transactions in the viniculture sector

“…Climate predictions and simulations indicate that climate change will pose a signicant challenge for wine production in the future. A comprehensive understanding of the characteristics Grapes Reduce ability to synthesize long-chain unsaturated fatty acids 52 of frost events is essential for early detection, allowing for strategic crop management decisions, such as determining whether the crop should be cut for hay or harvested for grain. However, harvesting grapes is not the only measure a producer can resort to, and even this decision may affect the quality of the produced grapes, considering the possibility that the grapes are still not ready to be harvested.…”

Polyploidization and genomic selection integration for grapevine breeding: a perspective

“…Since the availability of the grapevine genome (initially in 2007 and later re-sequenced in 2019), omics-based studies have been extensively used to study polyploidy and heterozygosity in grapevines ( The French–Italian Public Consortium for Grapevine Genome Characterization, 2007 ; Liang et al., 2019 ). For example, in a recent study conducted by ( Han et al., 2023 ), the authors used reference genome-based RNA-seq data analysis to identify the probable pathways involved in the freezing response in grapevines. Likewise, a few studies were conducted on grapevine breeding using various omics technologies ( Wang et al., 2021 ; Savoi et al., 2022 ).…”

Machine learning extracts marks of thiamine’s role in cold acclimation in the transcriptome of Vitis vinifera

“…However, the plant resistance to very cold and freezing temperatures has not been extensively studied yet despite recent advances in sequencing and molecular biotechnology ( Ren et al., 2023 ). Also, not much is known about the impact of different temperatures on the gene expression patterns of Vitis vinifera ( Han et al., 2023 ). Experiments done under various cold stress conditions showed that the freeze-shock damages plant leaves more than long-term freezing ( Londo et al., 2018 ).…”