Seeing the forest through the (phylogenetic) trees : functional characterisation of grapevine terpene synthase (VviTPS) paralogues and orthologues
Date
2021-07-26
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
MDPI
Abstract
Gene families involved in specialised metabolism play a key role in a myriad of ecophysiological and biochemical functions. The Vitis vinifera sesquiterpene synthases represent the largest
subfamily of grapevine terpene synthase (VviTPS) genes and are important volatile metabolites for
wine flavour and aroma, as well as ecophysiological interactions. The functional characterisation of
VviTPS genes is complicated by a reliance on a single reference genome that greatly underrepresents
this large gene family, exacerbated by extensive duplications and paralogy. The recent release of
multiple phased diploid grapevine genomes, as well as extensive whole-genome resequencing efforts,
provide a wealth of new sequence information that can be utilised to overcome the limitations of
the reference genome. A large cluster of sesquiterpene synthases, localised to chromosome 18, was
explored by means of comparative sequence analyses using the publicly available grapevine reference
genome, three PacBio phased diploid genomes and whole-genome resequencing data from multiple
genotypes. Two genes, VviTPS04 and -10, were identified as putative paralogues and/or allelic
variants. Subsequent gene isolation from multiple grapevine genotypes and characterisation by
means of a heterologous in planta expression and volatile analysis resulted in the identification of
genotype-specific structural variations and polymorphisms that impact the gene function. These
results present novel insight into how grapevine domestication likely shaped the VviTPS landscape
to result in genotype-specific functions.
Description
CITATION: Smit, S. J., Vivier, M. A. & Young, P. R. 2021. Seeing the forest through the (phylogenetic) trees : functional characterisation of grapevine terpene synthase (VviTPS) paralogues and orthologues. Plants, 10(8):1520, doi:10.3390/plants10081520.
The original publication is available at https://www.mdpi.com
The original publication is available at https://www.mdpi.com
Keywords
Grapevines, Ecophysiological functions, Biochemical functions, Grapevine terpene synthase, Sesquiterpenes, Wine -- Flavor and odor
Citation
Smit, S. J., Vivier, M. A. & Young, P. R. 2021. Seeing the forest through the (phylogenetic) trees : functional characterisation of grapevine terpene synthase (VviTPS) paralogues and orthologues. Plants, 10(8):1520, doi:10.3390/plants10081520.