Microbial consortia of grapevine: the good and the bad guys

Abstract: Grapevine is a widely cultivated fruit crop that is naturally colonised by a myriad of microorganisms, both beneficial and phytopathogenic, which interact with each other and with the plant. These microbial interactions are very important because they will have a strong impact in the physiologic proprieties of the plant and will influence the wine quality and its final organoleptic proprieties. However, the knowledge of the microbial consortia and its interactions with grapevine are not yet completely understood. In this work, our aim is to unveil the complete structure of the microbial consortia present at grapevine during its vegetative cycle, by applying the metagenomic approaches. Our data unveiled a very complex microbial consortia associated with grapevine, both beneficial and phytopathogenic microorganisms, and we even observed a clear competition amongst them. The microbiome was also very dynamic along the vegetative cycle of grapevine – where we have observed a decrease of the eukaryotic microbial biodiversity and an increase of the prokaryotic population along the vegetative cycle. In addition, it is important to consider the impact of chemical treatments in the reducing of microbial diversity. Generally, the Ascomycota (eukaryotic) and Proteobacteria (prokaryotic) phylum prevailed. Within these the microbial communities, Aureobasidium and Rhodotorula were the most abundant eukaryotic microorganisms and Enterobacteriaceae and Streptococcaceae were the most abundant prokaryotic microorganisms.Overall, this study unveiled a complete image of the microbial consortia present at grapevine during its vegetative cycle and brought new insights on the structure of microbial communities and their interactions. Moreover, our findings provide a strong contribution to the improvement of vineyard management strategies and highlight the development of new friendly protect strategies.