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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Geneva, New York » Plant Genetic Resources Unit (PGRU) » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #379920
Title: Micropropagazione, una nuova opportunità per il melo

Author
item Fazio, Gennaro
item NICOLE, DALLABETTA - Agromillora, Iberia
item ROBINSON, TERENCE - Cornell University

Submitted to: Trade Journal Publication
Publication Type: Trade Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 11/3/2020
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: Grafting, combining two different plants together, is a common practice in woody perennial crops. By choosing a specific genotype for the root and a separate genotype for the shoot allow crop producers to increase pest resistance, stress tolerance, yields, and plant vigor. For research purposes, grafting allows researchers to better understand how root and shoots operate. In this study, we used an experimental grapevine vineyard where vines of the cultivar ‘Chambourcin’ were either ungrafted or grafted on top of three different grapevine rootstocks. Using this experiment, we examined how different root shyst ems contribute to different shoot aspects. In particular we examined how the ion concentration of the shoot leaves, the chemistry of the berry, the expression of genes in both of these tissues, and the shape of the leaves all change depending on the type of root system. We were able to document that these changes also varied throughout the growing season, demonstrating the potential for using different rootstocks to influence these shoot trails.

Technical Abstract: In many perennial crops, grafting the root system of one individual to the shoot system of another individual has become an integral part of propagation performed at industrial scales to enhance pest, disease, and stress tolerance to regulate yield and vigor. Grafted plants offer important experimental systems for understanding the extent and seasonality of root system effects on shoot system biology. Using an experimental vineyard where a common scion ‘Chambourcin’ is growing ungrafted and grafted to three different rootstocks, we explore associations between root system genotype and leaf phenotypes in grafted grapevines across a growing season. We quantified five=high dimensional leaf phenotyping modalities: ionomics, metabolomics, transcriptomics, morphometrics, and physiology and show that rootstock influence on the leaf ionome, with unique signatures detected at each phenological stage. Moreover, all phenotypes and patterns of phenotypic covariation were highly dynamic across the season. These finding expand upon previously identified patters to suggest that the influence of root system on shoot system phenotypes is complex and broad understanding necessitates volumes of high-dimensional, multi-scale data previously unmet.