Gas exchange, vine performance and modulation of secondary metabolism in Vitis vinifera L. cv Barbera following long-term nitrogen deficit

Abstract

Main Conclusion A reprogramming of secondary metabolism to acclimate to nitrogen deficiency was seen in grapevine eliciting an accumulation of strigolactones and jasmonate. This response links with photosynthetic compensation and enhanced ripening. In addition to the metabolism directly related to nitrogen assimilation, long-term nitrogen depletion may affect plant secondary metabolism, in turn affecting grapevine performance. In this work, the effect of nitrogen deficit was investigated in V. vinifera cv. Barbera potted vines following three years of deprivation, using a combination of morpho-physiological assessments and mass spectrometry-based untargeted metabolomics. Plants grown under nitrogen limitation showed reduced growth and even more curtailed yields, lowered SPAD values, and a quite preserved leaf gas exchange, compared to plants grown under non-limiting nitrogen availability. Ripening was decidedly accelerated, and berry composition improved in terms of higher sugar and phenolic contents under nitrogen-limiting conditions. Metabolomics showed the broad involvement of secondary metabolism in acclimation to nitrogen deficiency, including a distinctive modulation of the phytohormone profile. Several nitrogen-containing metabolites were down accumulated under nitrogen-limiting conditions, including alkaloids, glucosinolates, hypoxanthine, and inosine. On the other hand, phenylpropanoids showed an accumulation trend. Concerning the recruitment of hormones, nitrogen deprivation elicited an accumulation of strigolactones and jasmonate. Noteworthy, both strigolactones and jasmonates have been previously related to increased photosynthetic efficiency under abiotic stress. Furthermore, the severe reduction of lateral shoot development we recorded in N-deprived vines is consistent with the accumulation of strigolactones. Overall, our results suggest that nitrogen deprivation induced a rather broad metabolic reprogramming, mainly including secondary metabolism and hormones profile, reflected in the modulation of photosynthetic performance, canopy growth, and possibly fruit quality.

Rol de los brasinoesteroides en frutales con énfasis en condiciones de estrés abiótico: Una revisión

“…Para el caso de la uva (Vitis vinífera L.) cultivar Barbera se observó que la aclimatación de las plantas a deficiencias de nitrógeno se limita la acumulación del BR 6-desoxocastasterona mientras que el precursor del jasmonato 13S-HPODE y los conjugados de auxina como AIA-Asp, AIA-Gln y AIA.Glu mostraron una tendencia opuesta (Squeri et al, 2021); por otra parte se observó que en el desarrollo de las bayas de la uva los genes VvSnRK2s tienen roles distintos siendo VvSnRK2.2 y VvSnRK2.7 los que desempeñaron un papel importante en la maduración, mientras que VvSnRK2.3 y VvSnRK2.6 se presentan durante el crecimiento y la expresión de estos genes generan una tendencia de aumento de concentraciones de etileno (ET), ácido salicílico (AS), BR, ácido indolacético (AIA) y AJ (Zhang et al, 2022).…”