MAIN CONCLUSION : Light exclusion reduces the concentration and modifies the composition of grape anthocyanins, by altering the expression of genes involved in anthocyanin biosynthesis and transport, ...in a cultivar- and tissue-specific manner. Unlike most grapes, teinturier grapes accumulate anthocyanins both in skin and flesh. However, the concentration and composition of anthocyanins in both tissues differ, providing a valuable system to study tissue-specific regulation of anthocyanin synthesis. Furthermore, little is known about the mechanisms controlling the sensitivity of anthocyanin accumulation to light. Here, light was excluded from Gamay (white-fleshed) and Gamay Fréaux (teinturier mutant) berries throughout berry development. Under light-exposed conditions, the skin of Gamay Fréaux accumulated the highest level of anthocyanins, followed by the skin of Gamay, while the pulp of Gamay Fréaux had much lower anthocyanins than the skins. Network analysis revealed the same order on the number of significant correlations among metabolites and transcripts in the three colored tissues, indicating a higher connectivity that reflects a higher efficiency of the anthocyanin pathway. Compared to light conditions, light exclusion reduced the total amount of anthocyanins, most severely in the skin of Gamay and to a lesser extent in the flesh and skin of Gamay Fréaux. Coordinated decrease in the transcript abundance of structural, regulatory and transporter genes by light exclusion correlated with the reduced anthocyanin concentration in a cultivar- and tissue-specific manner. Moreover, light exclusion increased the ratio of dihydroxylated to trihydroxylated anthocyanins, in parallel with F3′H and F3′5′H transcript amounts. Sugars and ABA only play a limited role in the control of anthocyanin synthesis in the berries, in contrast with what has been described in cell suspensions. This study provides novel insights into the regulation of anthocyanin in wild type and teinturier cultivars.
Grapevine (Vitis vinifera L.) is a non-climacteric fruit species used as table fruit, dried raisins, and for vinification (wines) and distillation (liquors). In recent years, our knowledge of the ...molecular basis of ripening regulation has improved. Water status, light conditions, and temperature may hasten, delay, or enhance ripening. Hormones seem to play a central role, as their concentrations change prior to and during ripening and in response to several environmental cues. The review summarizes recent data related to the molecular and hormonal control of grape berry development and ripening, with special emphasis on secondary metabolism and its response to the environment, and pinpoints some experimental limitations.
Grapes are a major fruit crop around the world. Heat stress can significantly reduce grape yield and quality. Changes at the molecular level in response to heat stress and subsequent recovery are ...poorly understood. To elucidate the effect of heat stress and subsequent recovery on expression of genes by grape leaves representing the classic heat stress response and thermotolerance mechanisms, transcript abundance of grape (Vitis vinifera L.) leaves was quantified using the Affymetrix Grape Genome oligonucleotide microarray (15,700 transcripts), followed by quantitative Real-Time PCR validation for some transcript profiles.
We found that about 8% of the total probe sets were responsive to heat stress and/or to subsequent recovery in grape leaves. The heat stress and recovery responses were characterized by different transcriptional changes. The number of heat stress-regulated genes was almost twice the number of recovery-regulated genes. The responsive genes identified in this study belong to a large number of important traits and biological pathways, including cell rescue (i.e., antioxidant enzymes), protein fate (i.e., HSPs), primary and secondary metabolism, transcription factors, signal transduction, and development. We have identified some common genes and heat shock factors (HSFs) that were modulated differentially by heat stress and recovery. Most HSP genes were upregulated by heat stress but were downregulated by the recovery. On the other hand, some specific HSP genes or HSFs were uniquely responsive to heat stress or recovery.
The effect of heat stress and recovery on grape appears to be associated with multiple processes and mechanisms including stress-related genes, transcription factors, and metabolism. Heat stress and recovery elicited common up- or downregulated genes as well as unique sets of responsive genes. Moreover, some genes were regulated in opposite directions by heat stress and recovery. The results indicated HSPs, especially small HSPs, antioxidant enzymes (i.e., ascorbate peroxidase), and galactinol synthase may be important to thermotolerance of grape. HSF30 may be a key regulator for heat stress and recovery, while HSF7 and HSF1 may only be specific to recovery. The identification of heat stress or recovery responsive genes in this study provides novel insights into the molecular basis for heat tolerance in grape leaves.
A total of 98 grape cultivars were studied for content and composition of organic acids and sugars in grape juice during two consecutive years. Glucose and fructose were the predominant sugars in ...grape berries and ranged from 45.86 to 122.89 mg mL⁻¹, and 47.64 to 131.04 mg mL⁻¹, respectively, in two years. Sucrose was present at trace amounts in most cultivars, but two cultivars of hybrids between Vitis labrusca and V. vinifera contained large amounts of sucrose. Tartaric acid content in berries, varying from 1.57 to 9.09 and 1.54 to 9.05 mg mL⁻¹, respectively, in two years, was significantly higher than malic acid, which ranged from 0.38 to 6.05 and 0.36 to 7.06 mg mL⁻¹, respectively, in two years. Moreover, significantly higher total soluble sugars and fructose and lower total acids and malic acid were found in cultivars from hybrids between V. labrusca and V. vinifera than those in V. vinifera cultivars, and wine grapes had higher total sugars and acids than table grapes from V. vinifera. Principal component analysis (PCA) indicated that genotypic correlations among sugar and acid contents were stable and the first three PCs accounted for about 82% of total variance in both years. PC1 was highly connected with glucose and fructose contents, and sucrose was an important contributor to the variance for PC2, as well as for PC3. PC2 and PC3 were highly connected also with organic acids, but the contributor to variance differed from one year to the next. Tartaric acid was the main contributor to variance in 2003, and malic acid was important in 2004 for PC2 and PC3. In a scatter plot of the score values of all genotypes projected to the PC1 and PC2 plane, three groups of cultivars tend to cluster based on their genetic background or purpose of use. The cultivars of hybrid V. labrusca and V. vinifera were represented by high sugars, especially sucrose, and low acids. Among the cultivars of V. vinifera, wine grapes were found in general to have more sugars and acids than table grapes. The composition of sugars was stable in grape berries between the two years, while acids were sensitive to climate changes. Finally, the different responses of malic and tartaric acids to climate change is discussed.
Global gene expression was analyzed in the berry skin of two red grape cultivars, which can ('Jingyan') or cannot ('Jingxiu') synthesize anthocyanins after sunlight exclusion from fruit set until ...maturity. Gene transcripts responding to sunlight exclusion in 'Jingyan' were less complex than in 'Jingxiu'; 528 genes were induced and 383 repressed in the former, whereas 2655 genes were induced and 205 suppressed in 'Jingxiu'. They were regulated either in the same or opposing manner in the two cultivars, or in only one cultivar. In addition to VvUFGT and VvMYBA1, some candidate genes (e.g. AOMT, GST, and ANP) were identified which are probably involved in the differential responses of 'Jingxiu' and 'Jingyan' to sunlight exclusion. In addition, 26 MYB, 14 bHLH and 23 WD40 genes responded differently to sunlight exclusion in the two cultivars. Interestingly, all of the 189 genes classified as being relevant to ubiquitin-dependent protein degradation were down-regulated by sunlight exclusion in 'Jingxiu', but the majority (162) remained unchanged in 'Jingyan' berry skin. It would be of interest to determine the precise role of the ubiquitin pathway following sunlight exclusion, particularly the role of COP9 signalosome, cullins, RING-Box 1, and COP1-interacting proteins. Only a few genes in the light signal system were found to be regulated by sunlight exclusion in either or both cultivars. This study provides a valuable overview of the transcriptome changes and gives insight into the genetic background that may be responsible for sunlight-dependent versus -independent anthocyanin biosynthesis in berry skin.
QTLs controlling individual sugars and acids (fructose, glucose, malic acid and tartaric acid) in grape berries have not yet been identified. The present study aimed to construct a high-density, ...high-quality genetic map of a winemaking grape cross with a complex parentage (V. vinifera × V. amurensis) × ((V. labrusca × V. riparia) × V. vinifera), using next-generation restriction site-associated DNA sequencing, and then to identify loci related to phenotypic variability over three years.
In total, 1 826 SNP-based markers were developed. Of these, 621 markers were assembled into 19 linkage groups (LGs) for the maternal map, 696 for the paternal map, and 1 254 for the integrated map. Markers showed good linear agreement on most chromosomes between our genetic maps and the previously published V. vinifera reference sequence. However marker order was different in some chromosome regions, indicating both conservation and variation within the genome. Despite the identification of a range of QTLs controlling the traits of interest, these QTLs explained a relatively small percentage of the observed phenotypic variance. Although they exhibited a large degree of instability from year to year, QTLs were identified for all traits but tartaric acid and titratable acidity in the three years of the study; however only the QTLs for malic acid and β ratio (tartaric acid-to-malic acid ratio) were stable in two years. QTLs related to sugars were located within ten LGs (01, 02, 03, 04, 07, 09, 11, 14, 17, 18), and those related to acids within three LGs (06, 13, 18). Overlapping QTLs in LG14 were observed for fructose, glucose and total sugar. Malic acid, total acid and β ratio each had several QTLs in LG18, and malic acid also had a QTL in LG06. A set of 10 genes underlying these QTLs may be involved in determining the malic acid content of berries.
The genetic map constructed in this study is potentially a high-density, high-quality map, which could be used for QTL detection, genome comparison, and sequence assembly. It may also serve to broaden our understanding of the grape genome.
Successful cross-breeding requires the investigation into the inheritance pattern of desirable traits. The present study recorded the segregation in coloration and analyzed anthocyanin concentration ...and composition in berry skin and flesh of the F1 interspecific populations (‘Beifeng’ × ‘Yan-73’) during the three successive growing seasons. All the progeny presented color in berry skin, whereas segregation was observed in berry flesh coloration with the ratio of 1:1. Meanwhile, attentions were paid to anthocyanin mono-and di-glucosides for the first time. Di-glucosides were only detected in the maternal parent ‘Beifeng’ and around a half number of the progeny in berry skin and colored flesh. On the other hand, mono-glucosides were detected in both parents and all the progeny in berry skin and with colored flesh. Concentrations of total and major anthocyanins in the progeny were continuously distributed and skewed towards the low concentration area. Transgressive inheritance was also noted, indicated by the exceptionally high anthocyanin concentrations observed amongst some of the progeny. Positive correlations were observed between traits except the slightly negative correlations between mono-and di-glucosides in both skin and flesh. These results are of both practical and scientific interests for further breeding efforts and researches on different coloration mechanisms in berry skin and flesh.
Chiral transcription from the molecular level to the macroscopic level by self-organization has been a topic of considerable interest for mimicking biological systems. Homochiral coordination ...polymers (CPs) are intriguing systems that can be applied in the construction of artificial helical architectures, but they have scarcely been explored to date. Herein, we propose a new strategy for the generation of superhelices of 1D CPs by introducing flexible cyclohexyl groups on the side chains to simultaneously induce interchain van der Waals interactions and chain misalignment due to conformer interconversion. Superhelices of
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-(1-cyclohexylethyl)aminomethylphosphonic acid were obtained successfully, the formation of which was found to follow a new type of "chain-twist-growth" mechanism that had not been described previously. The design strategy used in this work may open a new and general route to the hierarchical assembly and synthesis of helical CP materials.
Superhelices of terbium phosphonates formed following a new type of "chain-twist-growth" mechanism involving flexible cyclohexyl groups.
► First report five flavonoids in lotus leaves. ► An optimization on the extraction of lotus leaves is made. ► The method has been well validated. ► Composition and content of flavonoids in lotus ...largely depend on genetic background.
The extraction protocol of flavonoids from lotus (Nelumbo nucifera) leaves was optimized through an orthogonal design. The solvent was the most important factor comparing solvent, solvent:tissue ratio, extraction time, and temperature. The highest yield of flavonoids was achieved with 70% methanol–water and a solvent:tissue ratio of 30:1 at 4°C for 36h. The optimized analytical method for HPLC was a multi-step gradient elution using 0.5% formic acid (A) and CH3CN containing 0.1% formic acid (B), at a flow rate of 0.6mL/min. Using this optimized method, thirteen flavonoids were simultaneously separated and identified by high performance liquid chromatography coupled with photodiode array detection/electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (HPLC/DAD/ESI-MSn). Five of the bioactive compounds are reported in lotus leaves for the first time. The flavonoid content of the leaves of three representative cultivars was assessed under the optimized extraction and HPLC analytical conditions, and the seed-producing cultivar ‘Baijianlian’ had the highest flavonoid content compared with rhizome-producing ‘Zhimahuoulian’ and wild floral cultivar ‘Honglian’.
The anthocyanin composition and concentration of various organs of teinturier grape Yan-73 were studied throughout the growing season. Nineteen anthocyanins were identified by HPLC-MS as ...monoglucosides and their derivatives. Anthocyanin composition and concentration varied among grape organs and by developmental stage. Skin anthocyanins were mainly composed of malvidin derivatives, while peonidin derivatives were the most dominant anthocyanins in the pulp. Both malvidin and peonidin derivatives were predominant components in carpopodia (swollen pedicel at point of berry attachment), berry pedicels, leaf lamina, vein and petioles, and living bark at the base of the shoot. Anthocyanins were very low before veraison, and then increased sharply at veraison in berry skin and pulp. Anthocyanins in carpopodia and berry pedicels also increased sharply, although occurring later than in berry skin and pulp. Anthocyanins were high in young and senescing leaf lamina and low in expanding and mature lamina. Anthocyanins did not vary much in leaf vein and petiole tissue, or in bark, throughout the growing season.