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Funding: Region Nouvelle-Aquitaine / INRA BAP
Partnership:
Period: January 2018 - December 2019 (24 mo)
Contact EGFV: Nathalie OLLAT

Abstract:  The xylem plays a central role in the long-distance transport of water within the plant. Failure in hydraulic function due to vascular diseases and water deficit limit productivity or induce mortality across a wide range of plant systems. The cultivation of grapevine, Vitis vinifera L. sativa, has a meaningful place in the French economy. To date, the sustainabilitly of this industry is threaten by the progression of vascular diseases and climate change. Amongst trunk pathologies affecting grapevine, the Esca disease is of the most destructive. Recent efforts led to the identification of a morphological trait of the xylem that correlates with the degree of resistance of grapevine cultivars to one of its causal agent, Phaeomoniella chlamydospora. The xylem morphology is also known to impact on the ability of plants to maintain hydraulic function and survive under water shortage. The structure of the xylem is genotype-dependent but also presents a developmental plasticity that responds to environmental factors, such as the water availability. The xylem morphology represents a crossroad for the integration of various environmental stresses, and its study provides an enticing avenue to better understand how responses to abiotic and biotic stresses interact in perennial agro-systems and potentially converge. PlastiXyl objectives are (i) to better characterize the genetics and physiologic basis bases responsible for changes in xylem morphology by using F1 and F2 grapevine progenies from an interspecific cross (V. vinifera x V. riparia), and (ii) to determine its consequences for xylem susceptibility to P. chlamydospora and drought stress-induced embolism. The ER will work in collaboration with groups of researchers with recognized expertise in grapevine genetics, xylem physiology and pathology. This innovative multidisciplinary approach will discover novel insights on some of the biggest issues the grapevine industry has to face in the EU, and improve ER's possibilities to reach a research position.