Novel aspects of grape berry ripening and post-harvest withering revealed by untargeted LC-ESI-MS metabolomics analysis

Abstract

We established a step-by-step, experimentguided metabolomics procedure, based on LC-ESI-MS analysis, to generate a detailed picture of the changing metabolic profiles during late berry development in the important Italian grapevine cultivar Corvina. We sampled berries from four developmental time points and three postharvest time points during the withering process, and used chromatograms of methanolic extracts to test the performance of the MetAlign and MZmine data mining programs. MZmine achieved a better resolution and therefore generated a more useful data matrix. Then both the quantitative performance of the analytical platform and the matrix effect were assessed, and the final dataset was investigated by multivariate data analysis. Our analysis confirmed the results of previous studies but also revealed some novel findings, including the prevalence of two specific flavonoids in unripe berries and important differences between the developmental profiles of flavones and flavanones, suggesting that specific individual metabolites could have different functions, and that flavones and flavanones probably play quite distinct biological roles. Moreover, the hypothesis-free multivariate analysis of subsets of the wide data matrix evidentiated the relationships between the various classes of metabolites, such as those between anthocyanins and hydroxycinnamic acids and between flavan-3-ols and anthocyanins.

The Phenylpropanoid Pathway Is Controlled at Different Branches by a Set of R2R3-MYB C2 Repressors in Grapevine

“…Anthocyanins increased from véraison onward, whereas SWP compounds all tended to decrease toward ripening (Fig. 3B), which was largely proven in several previous works (Matus et al, 2009;Toffali et al, 2011). The main hydroxycinnamic acids found in grape skins correspond to caffeic and ferulic acid and also, derivatives of the former, such as caftaric and chlorogenic acid (Lee and Jaworski, 1987), which result from the esterification of caffeate with tartaric and quinic acid, respectively (Supplemental Fig.…”

“…S4). PAs are largely known to accumulate at early stages during berry development Toffali et al, 2011) and were not quantified in this work.…”

Metabolomics of Lonicera caerulea fruit during ripening and its relationship with color and antioxidant activity

“…Flavonoids (such as quercetin, and kaempferol) are synthesized in all plants (Lee et al, 2012;Toffali et al, 2011). Quercetin-3-glucoside and quercetin-3-rutinoside are the most abundant flavonoids in L. caerulea fruits (Kusznierewicz et al, 2012;Ren et al, 2008).…”

Influence of different withering conditions on phenolic composition of Avanà, Chatus and Nebbiolo grapes for the production of ‘Reinforced’ wines

“…In any case, during postharvest grape dehydration, important metabolic changes occur due to water loss, leading to an active metabolism that affects the phenol composition and extractability, volatile profile, and mechanical properties Rolle, Giordano, et al, 2012;Toffali et al, 2011;Zoccatelli et al, 2013). Different postharvest dehydration rates and conditions affect the quality characteristics of grapes and related wines (Bellincontro, De Santis, Botondi, Villa, & Mencarelli, 2004;Frangipane, Torresi, De Santis, & Massantini, 2012;Moreno et al, 2008;, and also the grape cultivar could have a influence (Márquez, Serratosa, & Merida, 2012).…”