The LowSugarBerry trait phenotyped at population and single fruit levels

Abstract

Abstract The grapevine is one of the most widely grown perennial crops worldwide. As for other species displaying clusters of small fruits, the development of single berries within a bunch is asynchronous and heterogeneous. Because of this, the study of water and solute accumulation kinetics and balance at the organ level cannot be directly extrapolated from samples of populations of fruits. In order to have an original and reliable dataset on the accumulation kinetics of the main solutes (primary and secondary metabolites and cations) and water, we analyzed fruit populations sorted according to their density and also individual berries from the onset of sugar importation to the end of phloem unloading. The studies were performed on a panel of varieties representing different metabolic contexts for the relationship between the import of organic and inorganic solutes and fruit growth, including genotypes able to import water at low fruit osmotic potential. These original data sets are suitable to revisit some aspects of the accumulation of main solutes and water in grapevine fruit development and/or to perform comparative studies with other fleshy fruits.