Use of the microvine and plant gene switch system for functional studies of genes involved in the control of ripening initiation in Vitis vinifera

The microvine is a gibberellic acid (GA)-insensitive mutant that exhibits a dwarf nature and short life cycle and is amenable to agrobacterium-mediated transformation.
Because of these features and its continuous flowering nature, it is a valuable model system for rapid genetic studies in grapevine.
Adaptation of a versatile system combining the use of microvine together with a plant gene switch (PGSS) inducible expression system for controlled expression of transgenes and an artificial microRNA (amiRNA)-based gene silencing method is described.
Transformation of microvine using embryonic callus to regeneration of transformed plants took less than 6 months.
The inducible expression system could be turned on to induce the accumulation of transgene about 15-fold within 72 h.
Functionality of the amiRNA was tested on target transcript accumulation, and a 40% reduction in target mRNA was achieved.
The utility of the system combining microvine, gene switch expression, and amiRNA to study genes involved in fruit developmental processes is discussed.

XII International Conference on Grapevine Breeding and Genetics

S. Gouthu, L.G. Deluc

microvine, functional studies, plant gene switch system, artificial microRNA, fruit ripening

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2019.1248.27