Grapevine adaptation to abiotic stress: an overview

As the climate changes, genetic adaptation of crops to abiotic stresses is an increasingly important issue, especially for a perennial crops of high economic value such as grapevine. Given the numerous environments where this plant can be found, and the huge intra- and interspecific diversity, we can assume that grapevine genomes contain many alleles that could be exploited to ensure the sustainability of viticulture. The challenge is to identify these alleles and to understand how they can be used to manipulate phenotypes. The diversity of abiotic constraints (thermal stress, drought, salinity, mineral deficiency, etc.) and their timing, duration, and intensity must be taken into account. The traits that underlie plant adaptation and the sensitive stages of development should be clearly defined. Targeted traits are often complex and under the control of various genetic mechanisms. Over the past 10 years, there have been numerous achievements in grapevine research such as genome sequencing, phenotyping improvement, genetics, functional characterization of genes, and modeling. Thanks to new knowledge and technologies, our understanding of grapevine adaptation to abiotic stresses has improved and can now be used to screen existing germplasms or to breed new genotypes. An overview of the main programs performed over recent years in France is presented.