FUNVINE · Global assessment of grapevine microbiome function to promote sustainable vineyard management

Global assessment of grapevine microbiome function to promote sustainable vineyard management

Vineyards represent a large potential source of ecological impact as they cover a vast portion of land worldwide, and also represent an important source of income for millions of people. Given these ecological and sociological roles, it is important to identify new ways to promote vineyard sustainability, including through the investigation of ‘the unseen majority’ of microbiota that associate with grapevines. The plant microbiome, composed of bacteria, fungi, and micro-fauna, performs a suite of vital functions that promote the stress resistance, nutrition, productivity, and fitness of wild and cultivated species across the globe. Plant microbiomes play an outsized role in plant health and are notably important for nutrient cycling, resistance to abiotic and biotic stress, and can dramatically influence overall plant fitness through pathogenesis and symbiosis. The microbiome of grapevines (Vitis vinifera) is an integral component of the production system, from the vineyard to the winery. While the microbiome of vineyards is often studied at the local scale considering single grape varieties, the existence of a functional and taxonomic microbiome shared by grapevines across contrasting environments is undetermined. For an industry experiencing the immediate impacts of climate change, with a global market size of $417 billion USD in 2020, and a footprint of >7.4 million hectares, my research project elucidating the capacity of microbial functions, e.g. pathogen suppression or enhanced nutrient cycling, will provide important knowledge to support economic and ecological benefits that can help to promote vineyard sustainability worldwide. Despite advances in exploration of the grapevine microbiome in recent years, there is an important knowledge gap regarding the integration of myriad environmental stressors, growing regions, and varieties in order to understand grapevine microbiome composition and functionality, particularly in response to a rapidly changing global climate. To overcome this knowledge gap, I will expand the goals of a global initiative identifying the grapevine microbiome composition (VINE MICROBIOME) by characterizing the functional profiles of the grapevine microbiome globally (FUNVINE). This knowledge is essential to provide a better understanding of the key relationships between functional microbiomes and crop health and sustainability, helping to support the EU viticulture industry and UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG-2; 13; 15). We will identify the global patterns of functional genes associated with plant productivity and plant fitness across contrasting environmental conditions and grape varieties. Critical functions performed by the soil microbiomes have been shown to mitigate pathogen efficacy, increase resistance to environmental stressors such as drought or temperature increases, and notably alleviate nutrient limitations through mutualism. These functional capacities of microbiomes can alter the health, nutritional value, and productivity of crops worldwide. Given the vast ecological and socio-economic importance of the global wine industry, FUNVINE will deliver results that can expand knowledge of the grapevine microbiome to researchers and viticulturists. Additionally, FUNVINE aims to identify sustainable management scenarios that consider the impacts of global climate change stressors as well as the declining returns of expensive and deleterious chemical fertilizers, pesticides, or insecticides used in the industry relative to the declines in pathogenesis, stress-relief, and nutritional provisioning of region-specific, grape variety-specific microbiomes. FUNVINE will include observational and experimental work to investigate the functional microbiome of vineyards aiming to address critical knowledge gaps and alleviate the environmental change-driven challenges to vineyards. The FUNVINE project had two major research objectives: Objective 1: To characterize the leaf and root functional microbiome of grapevines across the globe. Objective 2: Experimental management of the grapevine microbiome under global change stress.

Data: CORDIS, © European Union