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Functional Plant Biology Functional Plant Biology Society
Plant function and evolutionary biology
RESEARCH ARTICLE

Analysis of the expression of terpene synthase genes in relation to aroma content in two aromatic Vitis vinifera varieties

Fabiola Matarese A , Giancarlo Scalabrelli A and Claudio D’Onofrio A B
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment, University of Pisa, Via del Borghetto, 80 I-56124 Pisa, Italy.

B Corresponding author. Email: c.donofrio@agr.unipi.it

Functional Plant Biology 40(6) 552-565 https://doi.org/10.1071/FP12326
Submitted: 1 November 2012  Accepted: 22 January 2013   Published: 7 March 2013

Abstract

Grape (Vitis vinifera L.) flavour management in the vineyard requires knowledge of the derivation of individual flavour and aroma characteristics. Some of the most prevalent wine grape aroma constituents are terpenoids and this study represents a wide report about grape terpene synthase (TPS) gene transcript profiling in different tissues of two aromatic grapevine varieties, particularly flowers and developing berries, correlated with the accumulation patterns of free aroma compounds. All investigated genes belonging to the TPS-a and TPS-b subfamilies reached the highest expression in accordance with the peak of accumulation of the respective compounds. In the TPS-g subfamily, only one of the genes characterised for linalool synthases showed major transcript abundance in ripening berries, whereas the only geraniol synthase had a peak of expression in green berries and at the beginning of ripening, when geraniol concentration started to increase and overcome the linalool concentration. The genes identified in this study as being mainly responsible for linalool and geraniol synthesis during berry development, and the phenological phases in which they are mostly expressed, should be of interest to viticulturists and wine makers to improve decision making along the chain of production.

Additional keywords: Aleatico, grapevine, monoterpenes, Moscato Bianco, sesquiterpenes, volatiles.


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