Soultanina wood grapevine microbiome

Grapevine trunk diseases (GTDs) caused by pathogenic fungi are considered the biggest threat for viticulture worldwide with annual economic losses of 1.132 million euros. The withdrawal from the market of sodium arsenate combined with the lack of efficient alternatives have exacerbated the reductions in grapevine productivity by GTDs. Early identification of GTDs fungi is a difficult task considering the fact that fungi reported to be associated with GTDs are often detected in both asymptomatic and symptomatic grapevines and symptoms appear even five years after the detection. This latency in the disease appearance suggests that other factors are also involved in GTD incidence. In this context we aimed: (a) to determine the factors shaping the grapevine wood microbiome (b) to identify potential fungal indicators in the wood microbiome for early detection of GTDs (c) to explore the grapevine wood microbiome as a pool for novel biocontrol agents against GTDs. We collect grapevine wood samples of Sultanina cultivar from three different viticultural zones of Greece (Central, Northern, Southern) according to age and GTDs condition (asymptomatic vs symptomatic) and performed amplicon sequencing analysis of bacteria (16S rRNA) and fungi (ITS2) (Illumina NextSeq 2x300 bp). The results of amplicons are submitted here.