Several aspects of the proposal, which aims to expand open access, require serious discussion and, in some cases, a rethink.
Image credit: Dave Cutler (artist).
New Research In
Physical Sciences
Featured Portals
Articles by Topic
Biological Sciences
Featured Portals
Articles by Topic
Edited by Robert Haselkorn, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, and approved October 25, 2013 (received for review September 16, 2013)
Significance
We demonstrate that grape-associated microbial biogeography is nonrandomly associated with regional, varietal, and climatic factors across multiscale viticultural zones. This poses a paradigm shift in our understanding of food and agricultural systems beyond grape and wine production, wherein patterning of whole microbial communities associated with agricultural products may associate with downstream quality characteristics. Elucidating the relationship between production region, climate, and microbial patterns may enhance biological control within these systems, improving the supply, consumer acceptance, and economic value of important agricultural commodities.
Abstract
Wine grapes present a unique biogeography model, wherein microbial biodiversity patterns across viticultural zones not only answer questions of dispersal and community maintenance, they are also an inherent component of the quality, consumer acceptance, and economic appreciation of a culturally important food product. On their journey from the vineyard to the wine bottle, grapes are transformed to wine through microbial activity, with indisputable consequences for wine quality parameters. Wine grapes harbor a wide range of microbes originating from the surrounding environment, many of which are recognized for their role in grapevine health and wine quality. However, determinants of regional wine characteristics have not been identified, but are frequently assumed to stem from viticultural or geological factors alone. This study used a high-throughput, short-amplicon sequencing approach to demonstrate that regional, site-specific, and grape-variety factors shape the fungal and bacterial consortia inhabiting wine-grape surfaces. Furthermore, these microbial assemblages are correlated to specific climatic features, suggesting a link between vineyard environmental conditions and microbial inhabitation patterns. Taken together, these factors shape the unique microbial inputs to regional wine fermentations, posing the existence of nonrandom “microbial terroir” as a determining factor in regional variation among wine grapes.
Footnotes
- ↵1To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: damills{at}ucdavis.edu.
Author contributions: N.A.B., J.H.T., P.M.R., and D.A.M. designed research; N.A.B. performed research; D.A.M. contributed new reagents/analytic tools; N.A.B. analyzed data; and N.A.B., J.H.T., and D.A.M. wrote the paper.
Conflict of interest statement: N.A.B., P.M.R., and D.A.M. all own shares of MicroTrek, Inc. a service laboratory serving the food and beverage industry.
This article is a PNAS Direct Submission.
Data deposition: Raw data are publicly deposited in QIIME-db (www.microbio.me/qiime/) as studies 2019 (bacterial 16S rRNA sequences) and 2020 (fungal ITS sequences).
See Commentary on page 5.
This article contains supporting information online at www.pnas.org/lookup/suppl/doi:10.1073/pnas.1317377110/-/DCSupplemental.
Freely available online through the PNAS open access option.
Microbial biogeography of wine grapes
Sign up for Article Alerts
Jump to section
You May Also be Interested in
Several large or long-lived animals seem strangely resistant to developing cancer. Elucidating the reasons why could lead to promising cancer-fighting strategies in humans.
Image credit: Shutterstock.com/ronnybas frimages.
PNAS Profile of NAS member and biochemist Hao Wu
A study suggests a putative gene-expression hallmark common to monogamous male vertebrates of some species, namely cichlid fishes, dendrobatid frogs, passeroid songbirds, common voles, and deer mice, and identifies 24 candidate genes potentially associated with monogamy.
Image courtesy of Yusan Yang (University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh).
Physical and social well-being in old age are linked to self-assessments of life worth, and a spectrum of behavioral, economic, health, and social variables may influence whether aging individuals believe they are leading meaningful lives.
Image courtesy of Pixabay/MabelAmber.
More Articles of This Classification
Related Content
Cited by...
- Influence of Oenococcus oeni and Brettanomyces bruxellensis on Wine Microbial Taxonomic and Functional Potential Profiles
- Adapting a Photochemical Reactor to the Study of UV Ecology in Vineyard Yeast
- Different Amplicon Targets for Sequencing-Based Studies of Fungal Diversity
- Biogeography of Oenococcus oeni Reveals Distinctive but Nonspecific Populations in Wine-Producing Regions
- Grapevine (Vitis vinifera) Crown Galls Host Distinct Microbiota
- Impact of the [GAR+] Prion on Fermentation and Bacterial Community Composition with Saccharomyces cerevisiae UCD932
- Associations among Wine Grape Microbiome, Metabolome, and Fermentation Behavior Suggest Microbial Contribution to Regional Wine Characteristics
- Cellar-Associated Saccharomyces cerevisiae Population Structure Revealed High-Level Diversity and Perennial Persistence at Sauternes Wine Estates
- Cross-species comparisons of host genetic associations with the microbiome
- The Soil Microbiome Influences Grapevine-Associated Microbiota
- Genome Sequences of Five Oenococcus oeni Strains Isolated from Nero Di Troia Wine from the Same Terroir in Apulia, Southern Italy
- Genome Sequence of Oenococcus oeni OM27, the First Fully Assembled Genome of a Strain Isolated from an Italian Wine
- Resilience of the Natural Phyllosphere Microbiota of the Grapevine to Chemical and Biological Pesticides
- Microbial terroir for wine grapes
See related content: