Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Symbiosis as a Promising Resource for Improving Berry Quality in Grapevines Under Changing Environments

Abstract

Climate change and their resulting impacts are becoming a concern for winegrowers due to the high socioeconomic relevance of the winemaking sector worldwide. In fact, the projected climate change is expected to have detrimental impacts on the yield of grapevines, as well as on the quality and properties of grapes and wine. It is well known that arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) can improve the nutritional quality of edible parts of crops and play essential roles in the maintenance of host plant fitness under stressed environments, including grapevines. The future scenarios of climate change may also modify the diversity and the growth of AMF in soils as well as the functionality of the mycorrhizal symbiosis. In this review, we summarize recent research progress on the effects of climate change on grapevine metabolism, paying special attention to the secondary compounds involved in the organoleptic properties of grapes and wines and to the levels of the phytohormones implied in the control of berry development and fruit ripening. In this context, the potential role of AMF for maintaining fruit quality in future climate change scenarios is discussed.

Nitrate Transporter Gene Expression and Kinetics of Nitrate Uptake by Populus × canadensis ‘Neva’ in Relation to Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi and Nitrogen Availability

“…The establishment of AM in roots can trigger the changes in root activities and gene expression patterns of root systems, for example, in grapevine (Balestrini et al, 2017;Torres et al, 2018), Robinia pseudoacacia (Huang et al, 2019), L. japonicus (Guether et al, 2009), and Lycopersicon esculentum (Hildebrandt et al, 2002). The results of this study showed that the active absorbing area/total absorbing area ratios of AM plants were higher than those in NM plants, which was in keeping with observations by Liu et al (2014) and Huang et al (2019).…”

Why farmers should manage the arbuscular mycorrhizal symbiosis

“…biofortification of the grains), which can be enhanced by AM fungi (e.g. Lehmann et al ., ; Bona et al ., ; Torres et al ., ). Indeed, AM fungi may have contributions ‘from field to fork’, that is also after harvest, e.g.…”

Dissimilar Responses of Ancient Grapevines Recovered in Navarra (Spain) to Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Symbiosis in Terms of Berry Quality

“…According to these results, GRA and TV stood out for having some interesting characteristics, such as higher total and extractable anthocyanin concentrations. Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) present in vineyard soils [14,15] are, from both ecological and economic point of view, a key component for obtaining high-quality wines [17,44]. The PCA analysis represented in Figure 3 shows that AMF colonization tended to accentuate the differences among varieties, being VD and TV the varieties that most clearly separated from the rest.…”

“…In red varieties, berry colour results from the biosynthesis and vacuolar accumulation of anthocyanins in berry skin cells from veraison, and plays an essential role in wine quality [50]. There are many studies demonstrating that the association of plants with AMF stimulates the biosynthesis of secondary metabolites (such as resveratrol, flavonols, and anthocyanins), which contributes to enhancing fruit quality [19,44,51]. However, these beneficial effects of AMF were not a general pattern, as indicates the loss of colour in VD and MO related to reduced anthocyanin content and to decreased TPI, respectively (Figures 6 and 7).…”