Grape berry surface bacterial microbiome: impact from the varieties and clones in the same vineyard from central...

Bacterial microbiome on grape berry surface may play an important role in grape quality and health. This study aims to investigate the impact of grape varieties and clones on grape berry surface bacterial microbiome from the same vineyard.

High-throughput sequencing strategy was used to investigate the bacterial diversity and abundance on the grape surfaces of 12 clones belonging to six varieties grown in the same vineyard of Zhengzhou Fruit Research Institute in Henan Province. In total, 45 bacterial phyla and 933 genera were detected from all samples. Cyanobacteria, Proteobacteria and Firmicutes were the most abundant and prevalent phyla, while Bacteroidetes, Chloroflexi, Acidobacteria and Planctomycetes were grape clone specific phyla. The nonrank genus from phylum Cyanobacteria occupied 30-81% of grape clones from Italian Riesling (GRX), Cabernet Franc (PLZ), Pinot Blanc (BBN) and Riesling (LSL). Interestingly, Bacillus, Pseudomonas and Lactococcus were the only three prevalent genera found on all the clones. Furthermore, the predicted functional activities of grape surface bacterial communities varied according to the clones.

The present study revealed that in addition to the grape varieties, the variations in grape clone background may also affect the bacterial microbiome on grape surfaces which may ultimately determine their functional activities.

This research provides an important information for grape planting and wine fermentation that not only the grape varieties need to be paid attention but also grape clones from the specific variety need to be concerned.