Age- and season-dependent pattern of flavonol glycosides in Cabernet Sauvignon grapevine leaves

Flavonols play key roles in many plant defense mechanisms, consequently they are frequently investigated as stress sensitive factors in relation to several oxidative processes. It is well known that grapevine (Vitis vinifera L.) can synthesize various flavonol glycosides in the leaves, however, very little information is available regarding their distribution along the cane at different leaf levels. In this work, taking into consideration of leaf position, the main flavonol glycosides of a red grapevine cultivar (Cabernet Sauvignon) were profiled and quantified by HPLC-DAD analysis. It was found that amount of four flavonol glycosides, namely, quercetin-3-O-galactoside, quercetin-3-O-glucoside, kaempferol-3-O-glucoside and kaempferol-3-O-glucuronide decreased towards the shoot tip. Since leaf age also decreases towards the shoot tip, the obtained results suggest that these compounds continuously formed by leaf aging, resulting in their accumulation in the older leaves. In contrast, quercetin-3-O-glucuronide (predominant form) and quercetin-3-O-rutinoside were not accumulated significantly by aging. We also pointed out that grapevine boosted the flavonol biosynthesis in September, and flavonol profile differed significantly in the two seasons. Our results contribute to the better understanding of the role of flavonols in the antioxidant defense system of grapevine.