In vitro early detection of grapevine virus-induced graft incompatibility in Syrah/R110: the involvement of GRSPaV

Abstract

In grapevines, incompatibility manifests in short-term graft failure or long-term decline of vineyards both causing economic losses to nurseries and growers. Here, we assessed the suitability of in vitro systems coupled with histochemistry analysis as early detection methods for grapevine incompatibility using certified homografted (i.e., a graft between the same genotype) and heterografted (i.e., a graft between two genotypes) grapevine micrografts, with known graft compatibility response when grafted onto the worldwide used rootstock 110R (V. berlandieri x V. rupestris). To prove the involvement of Grapevine rupestris stem pitting-associated virus (GRSPaV) in Syrah/110R incompatibility, we silenced GRSPaV transcripts by ectopically applying a GRSPaV siRNA-inducing dsRNA.