Abstract
Grapevine (Vitis vinifera) is a reservoir of fungal endophytes that may affect its growth, health status and grape production. Although there is growing interest in comparing fungal communities of mainly red grape varieties across various factors using only high-throughput sequencing, the small-scale mycobiome variations in geographically close vineyards need further examination. We aimed to characterize the fungal microbiome of the above-ground tissues of V. vinifera cv. Furmint in different plant parts, seasons and sites using culture-dependent and culture-independent methods, and in planta fluorescent microscopic visualization techniques. Samples were collected from four sites of the Tokaj wine region in Mád and two reference sites in Eger, Hungary, across different seasons for 2 years. Fungal endophytes of young and mature leaves, flowers and grape bunches were collected at different phenological stages. Based on each technique, Aureobasidium pullulans, Cladosporium spp. and the complex species Alternaria alternata dominated the community at every site, season and plant organ. We found no significant difference among communities in distinct neighbouring vineyards, nor when compared with the distant reference sites. We can conclude that the different shoot parts of the Furmint grapevines harbour a common core group of fungal community in these regions.
Highlights
Most terrestrial plants form symbioses with diverse fungal endophytes, which are important members of the plant microbiome (Vandenkoornhuyse et al, 2015)
We present the first data on fungal microbiomes of different above-ground tissues of the white grapevine variety Furmint, one of the most cultivated white grape varieties in Hungary
Young and mature leaves and grape bunches were examined in spring, summer and autumn for 2 years (Fig. 1), and the fungal microbiome was studied by an high-throughput sequencing (HTS)-based method, culture-dependent methods and fluorescence-based microscopic visualization
Summary
Most terrestrial plants form symbioses with diverse fungal endophytes, which are important members of the plant microbiome (Vandenkoornhuyse et al, 2015). Grapevine varieties (Vitis vinifera) represent reservoirs of these endophytes, which may affect their growth, health status and grape production (Morgan et al, 2017). Information on endophyte presence and role have been mostly unknown compared with that on fungal pathogens; there is an intensifying focus on different microbial communities in distinct wine-growing regions. This could lead to a better understanding of their potential influences on grape variety and production year (Bokulich et al, 2014). Less attention has been paid to the fungal microbiota of grapevines compared to the bacterial community and the above-ground compared with the below-ground community (Martinez-Diz et al, 2019; Deyett and Rolshausen, 2020; Liu and Howell, 2021)
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