Esca disease triggers local transcriptomic response and DNA methylation changes in grapevine

Area of Science:

• Plant Pathology
• Molecular Biology
• Epigenetics

Background:

• Woody plants like grapevines are susceptible to trunk diseases that impair vascular function and cause decline.
• Esca is a predominant grapevine trunk disease causing significant vineyard dieback globally.
• The molecular basis of esca symptom development is not fully understood.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the molecular responses to esca disease in symptomatic and asymptomatic grapevine leaves.
• To explore the association between metabolic alterations, transcriptomic changes, and DNA methylation patterns.
• To identify potential epigenetic markers for early disease detection.

Main Methods:

• Field collection of symptomatic and asymptomatic grapevine leaf tissues.
• Metabolite profiling to analyze metabolic changes.
• RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) for transcriptomic analysis.
• Whole genome bisulfite sequencing (WGBS) for DNA methylation profiling.

Main Results:

• Metabolic alterations and transcriptomic reprogramming were primarily observed in symptomatic leaves.
• These changes in symptomatic leaves were partially linked to local DNA methylation alterations.
• Asymptomatic leaves showed distinct DNA methylation changes, some shared with symptomatic tissues, indicating a global epigenetic response.
• A subset of methylation marks appeared before symptom development.

Conclusions:

• Molecular and transcriptomic changes associated with esca are largely confined to symptomatic tissues.
• Epigenetic modifications, particularly DNA methylation, play a role in both symptomatic and asymptomatic tissues, suggesting a systemic plant response.
• Epigenetic markers may enable the early detection of trunk diseases in perennial plants like grapevines.