b'Innovation toPreserve TraditionHOW THE LATEST BREEDING TECHNIQUES ARE SAVING THE TASTE OF OUR MOST CHERISHED GRAPE VINE VARIETIES.BY: MARCEL BRUINSEUROPEAN SEED (ES): MICHELE,disease resistance genes. The F1 prog-COULD YOU TELL ME A BIT MOREeny that consisted of several thousand ABOUT YOUR PROJECT? individuals was then selected for disease MICHELE MORGANTE (MM):We startedresistance (using genomic tools), agro-21 years ago at the University of Udinenomic characteristics and most impor-with a program to create new wine grape- tantly for wine-making quality through vine varieties resistant to powdery andbiochemical testing and sensory panels.downy mildew through traditional breed-ing, i.e., crossing and selection. LaterES: WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF on, in 2006, we created a new researchTHE NEW FUNGUS RESISTANT institute, IGA (Institute for AppliedGRAPE VARIETIES?Genomics), that played a major role in theMM:The main benefits lie in the reduced sequencing of the grapevine genome anduse of fungicides: the required number continued with the University to developof treatments goes from 10-20 (depend-disease resistant varieties, taking advan- ing on climatic conditions) for traditional tage of the new information derived fromvarieties to 2-3 for the resistant varieties. the genome sequence. Even in organic viticulture the benefits are present because the use of the resist-ES: WHY WAS IT NECESSARY TOant varieties reduces dramatically the use DEVELOP FUNGUS RESISTANTMichele Morgante of copper-based products that could lead GRAPE VARIETIES? to high concentrations of copper in the MM : The reason for doing it was thatsoils. In addition, the use of disease-re-grapevine, unlike all other major crops,sistant varieties allows for savings in did not take advantage of the advancesterms of economic costs (60-80 per cent in plant breeding over the last centuryDID YOU KNOW. reduction), energy costs (40-60 per cent or so and continued to utilize old vari- reduction) and finally water consumption eties that were extremely sensitive toGrape vines cover(60-75 per cent reduction).fungal diseases. As a result of the missedonly 3% of the EU opportunity of exploiting genetic mech- agricultural area. ES: COULD THE SAME RESULT ALSO anisms of resistance, grapevine coversHAVE BEEN ACHIEVED BY NEW only 3 per cent of agricultural area butBREEDING TECHNOLOGIES (NBTS)? is responsible for 60 per cent of fungicideMM:Yes, the same result could also have use (EUROSTAT figures for Europe, 2007Grapes arebeen achieved by using cisgenesis. The report, https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/ direct transfer of the resistance genes documents/3217494/5611788/KS-76-06- responsible60% to powdery and downy mildew, some of 669-EN.PDF) due to the need for heavyfor 60% ofwhich have already been identified and chemical treatment to protect plants fromfungicide use cloned in grapevine, through cisgenesis fungi. would have several advantages:1)Faster times for the generation of ES: HOW DID YOU GO ABOUT IT TOthe resistant varieties.INTRODUCE THE RESISTANCE INTOWith fungi-resistant2)A much more precise and clean EXISTING GRAPE VARIETIES? grape varieties,result because the amount of DNA MM:We crossed elite wine grape varie- spraying could becoming from wild relatives would ties such as Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon,reduced from be limited to the resistance genes Sauvignon Blanc with so called intro- 10-20 applications themselves, so only a few thou-gression lines, i.e., resistant varieties thatto 2 or 3 persand base pairs of DNA.were the result of several rounds of back- season 3)Most importantly, the genetic crosses with elite Vitis vinifera varietiesidentity of the elite varieties that following an initial cross with wild speciesare so important for the European from America and Asia that carried thewinebusinesswouldnotbe 10IEUROPEAN SEEDIEUROPEAN-SEED.COM'