1. Introduction
Agriculture faces challenges that put its sustainability at risk. These include climate change, phytopathogenic organisms, infectious plant diseases, soil nutrient deficiency, reduced crop yields, ever stricter legislation on using and developing genetically modified crops, and labour shortages [
1,
2,
3]. For years, there has been promotion of agriculture based on the use of chemical inputs (commercial pesticides and fertilizers), crop rotation, precision farming, and traditional plant improvement, and, more recently, their combination with breeding and genetic manipulation techniques, although these last techniques are still only available for a small group of crop species including maize, soybeans, and rice [
4]. Furthermore, not only do their volatilization and leaching lead to conventional and chemical fertilizers having a low efficiency but, in the long-run, their excessive use causes environmental pollution (e.g., soil quality degradation, groundwater contamination, and surface-water eutrophication), thereby limiting the goal of sustainable agriculture [
5,
6]. Given the outlook of climate change and the need to safely and sustainably respond to current and future food demands, it is crucial to develop new approaches that can better protect crops against biotic and abiotic stressors [
7,
8,
9].
Vitis vinifera L is a crop with a worldwide distribution and has a major impact on many countries’ economies. Vineyard products such as wine or table grapes have multiple health benefits [
10]. Grapes for example are a rich source of vitamins, minerals, carbohydrates, dietary fibre, and more than 1600 natural plant compounds including catechins, ellagic acid, lutein, quercetin, lycopene, and polyphenols (such as stilbene, flavonols, proanthocyanidins, and anthocyanins) which are very effective in protecting against cardiovascular diseases and other pathologies [
11]. The problems facing viticulture today mainly derive from climate change or from grapevine trunk diseases (GTDs) which re-emerged in the late 1990s [
12]. These diseases compromise not only vine longevity and productivity but also wine quality [
13,
14], with the result being economic losses due to increased production costs [
15]. Many factors make it difficult to control GTDs. Examples of GTDs are such pathologies as
Botryosphaeria dieback,
Eutypa dieback, esca, blackfoot disease, excoriosis, and Petri disease or young grapevine decline [
14]. Of these, those that most frequently affect mature grapevines are esca, Botryosphaeria dieback, and Eutypa dieback [
13].
GTDs are a group of vascular diseases produced by pathogenic fungi, mainly ascomycetes and basidiomycetes, which affect grapevine wood and inhabit the xylem cells in the woody tissue [
14,
16,
17]. When this type of fungus colonizes this tissue, it causes deterioration of the host plant due to the loss of xylem function and the consequent decrease in hydraulic conductivity [
18,
19,
20]. Moreover, pathogenic fungi can produce compounds that activate secondary metabolism, increasing anthocyanin synthesis and key enzymatic reactions (NADPH oxidase and phenylalanine ammonia lyase) or oxidative enzymes such as laccases (a type of PPO) leading to the oxidation of phenols and polyphenols [
21,
22,
23]. New fungal species with this pathogenic capacity continue to be discovered. By 2018 already, 133 species had been identified belonging to 34 different genera [
15]. Due to this great variety of pathogenic fungi involved in GTDs, the infection process and the external and internal symptoms can range fairly widely, depending on the pathology being analysed [
15,
16,
17,
24,
25,
26,
27], although there is generally necrosis and decay in the wood tissue leading over time to foliar symptoms and the plant’s death [
18,
19,
20]. For instance, plants affected by esca show “tiger stripe” patterns on the leaves, and plants affected by Eutypa dieback have stunted shoots with chlorotic leaves and bunches that mature unevenly [
14]. Infection will also depend on the plant’s phenology (young plants are mainly infected in the field while mature vineyards are usually infected through the root system) and on the type of pathogenic fungus (the Botryosphaeriaceae family and
Eutypa lata penetrate the plant through pruning wounds), although the same pathogenic fungus can infect through different entry routes (
Phaeoacremonium minimo and
Phaeomoniella chlamydospora, causal agents of Petri disease, can enter the plant both through the root system and through wounds) [
14,
16,
25,
27].
After two decades of unsuccessful attempts to develop chemical control or biocontrol methods to mitigate the effect of GTDs [
17], alternatives without the use of pesticides are currently being sought as this is one of the objectives included in the European Green Deal. One such alternative could be the use of elicitors such as carbohydrates, compounds with no toxicity, which can be extracted from renewable sources and contribute to conserving the environment [
28].
Many studies have confirmed that oligosaccharides play some important roles in activating plant innate immunity [
29]. They are low molecular weight polymers composed of 2 to 20 identical or different monosaccharides linked by glycosidic bonds [
30]. This kind of compound derives mainly from plant cellulose or hemicellulose, e.g., pectins, xyloglucans, cellodextrins, etc. [
31,
32,
33], or from fungal cell walls or arthropod exoskeletons, e.g., β-glucan, chitin, and chitosan [
32,
34,
35]. Chitosan oligosaccharides (COS), oligogalacturonides (OGA), and xyloglucan oligosaccharides (XGO) are involved in plant growth and defence responses [
36,
37]. For example, COS, an analogue of chitin oligosaccharides, may act in plants to elicit their innate immunity to plant diseases. When COS is detected by the plant, the transduction pathway is activated to induce early defence responses [
35]. The use of chitosan reduces the incidence of mildew in grapes, with an increase in polyphenols [
38] and a reduction in the growth of fungal hyphae that cause GTDs, resulting in improved growth of infected vines [
39]. As another example, OGA can be detected by cell-wall-associated receptors such as WAK1 and WAK2, triggering plant immunity through MAPK activation, an oxidative burst, and the accumulation of pathogenesis-related proteins providing the plant with increased resistance to pathogen invasion [
40,
41,
42]. The mannan oligosaccharides (MOS) are a type of saccharide derived from the cell wall of the yeast
Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The use of MOS as elicitor could be a valuable strategy for controlling plant disease since they have been reported to induce local defences and systemic resistance to pathogens [
29].
Yeast cell-wall extracts contain several compounds (mannoproteins, glucans, and chitin) that can act as elicitors triggering different defence modes in plants [
43,
44]. They are non-toxic, biodegradable, and ecological in the sense of being environmentally friendly. Treatment with them increases the activity of chitinase, a member of the group of proteins related to pathogenesis, i.e., it is induced by pathogen infection. Plants’ main response to fungus attack is to secrete chitinase because of its strong antifungal potential, degrading the fungus’s cell wall [
45]. Application of these extracts in the field can increase the plants’ growth and yield [
46] as well as the phenol content, antioxidant activity, and concentration of photosynthetic pigments [
47,
48].
The use of cell wall extracts, with a large proportion of the compounds they contain being mannans, increases resistance to fungal and bacterial infections in both leaves and fruit [
49,
50]. In grapes, the anthocyanin and stilbene contents increase [
44], while foliar application alters the anthocyanin content but not that of flavonoids [
43]. Mannan extracts have the capacity to eliminate ROS [
51], and in the vine their application protects against another fungal disease –mildew– modifying the metabolism of phenylpropanoids and phytohormones, enzymes such as SOD and PPO, and the photosynthesis process [
52]. With the application of these extracts, there is a physiological alteration involving reduced free and total amino acid contents, and resistance to the disease is induced in cv. Tempranillo [
44,
53].
By acting as pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs) that bind and are recognized by pattern recognition receptors (PRRs), the use of oligosaccharides such as mannans can allow the control of diseases in plants. Their recognition triggers defence reactions, both local resistance and acquired systemic resistance. This method may be an alternative to the use of synthetic chemicals to protect the vine.
In this work, the effect was measured of the application of mannans extracted from S. cerevisae on the pigment and phenol content and on the polyphenol oxidase (PPO) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) activities in grapevine leaves and grapes of the Tempranillo and Airén varieties, both healthy and affected by GTD-causing fungi. In general, mannans cause stress in healthy vines, but in diseased vines the effect seems to be favourable, palliating the damage caused by the disease, especially in the Tempranillo variety. Also analysed in this work were the expression patterns of enzymes involved in the synthesis (PAL) and degradation (PPO) of phenols and in the production of flavonoids (chalcone synthase).
4. Conclusions
Healthy vines (H) of both varieties respond to mannan treatment in a stress-like manner. Thus, in cv. Tempranillo, for both leaves and grapes all the parameters measured are affected (chlorophylls, phenols, CHS1, CHS3, PAL, PPO and SOD expression and SOD and PPO activities), at least with some mannan treatment. Neither the PPO activity of grapes nor the carotenoid content of leaves are affected. In cv. Airén leaves, these treatments do not affect the phenols or photosynthetic pigment contents, but they do affect CHS1, CHS3, PAL, PPO and SOD expression, as well as PPO and SOD activity. On the contrary, in the grapes, phenol content, PPO activity, and the expression of CHS1, CHS3, PAL, and PPO are altered, but not that of SOD.
For diseased vines (D), mannan addition is more positive in leaves than in grapes. Of the varieties, the greater response was observed in cv. Tempranillo. Thus, in its leaves, mannans increased the phenol content, PPO activity, and CHS1 and PPO expression, with decreases in CHS3, PAL, and SOD expression. In its grapes, the phenol (but not the anthocyanin) content increased, PPO activity decreased, and the expression of all enzymes declined (at least, with some mannan treatments). For cv. Airén, in its leaves, mannans led to decreased chlorophyll a and carotenoids, increased PPO activity, and decreased expression of CHS3, PAL, and PPO, while CHS1 and SOD were unaffected. In its grapes, increased SOD activity was observed, with the expression patterns of the genes studied being very variable between treatments, possibly due to the degree of affectation of the grapes as an effect of the development of the disease.
In summary, mannan treatment may represent one form of preventing or mitigating the attack of pathogenic fungi that trigger GTDs, although this treatment will depend on such factors as the cultivar involved and the vines’ phytosanitary status (healthy vs diseased). Also, in the varieties studied, due to the degree of affectation of the grapes because of the development of the disease, it was hard to establish a correlation between the fruit and the leaf organ in the activity and gene expression results of enzymes involved in antioxidant action.
Figure 1.
Total phenol (A,B) flavonoid (C,D) and PPGs (E,F) in leaves of the two grapevine varieties healthy (H) and diseased (D), treated with different doses of mannans (0 mg L-1: T0, 1 mg L-1: T1, 2 mg L-1: T2, and 3 mg L-1: T3). The data are means ±SD from, at least, 4 independent experiments, each carried out in triplicate (bars of each grapevine cultivar marked with the same letter do not differ significantly according to a parametric test of one-way ANOVA).
Figure 1.
Total phenol (A,B) flavonoid (C,D) and PPGs (E,F) in leaves of the two grapevine varieties healthy (H) and diseased (D), treated with different doses of mannans (0 mg L-1: T0, 1 mg L-1: T1, 2 mg L-1: T2, and 3 mg L-1: T3). The data are means ±SD from, at least, 4 independent experiments, each carried out in triplicate (bars of each grapevine cultivar marked with the same letter do not differ significantly according to a parametric test of one-way ANOVA).
Figure 2.
Total phenol (A,B) flavonoid (C,D), PPGs (E,F) and anthocyanin content (G) in grapes of the two grapevine varieties healthy (H) and diseased (D), treated with different doses of mannans (0 mg L-1: T0, 1 mg L-1: T1, 2 mg L-1: T2, and 3 mg L-1: T3). The data are means ±SD from, at least, 4 independent experiments, each carried out in triplicate (bars of each grapevine cultivar marked with the same letter do not differ significantly according to a parametric test of one-way ANOVA).
Figure 2.
Total phenol (A,B) flavonoid (C,D), PPGs (E,F) and anthocyanin content (G) in grapes of the two grapevine varieties healthy (H) and diseased (D), treated with different doses of mannans (0 mg L-1: T0, 1 mg L-1: T1, 2 mg L-1: T2, and 3 mg L-1: T3). The data are means ±SD from, at least, 4 independent experiments, each carried out in triplicate (bars of each grapevine cultivar marked with the same letter do not differ significantly according to a parametric test of one-way ANOVA).
Figure 3.
PPO (A,B) and SOD (C,D) activities in leaves of the two grapevine varieties healthy (H) and diseased (D), treated with different doses of mannans (0 mg L-1: T0, 1 mg L-1: T1, 2 mg L-1: T2, and 3 mg L-1: T3). The data are means ±SD from, at least, 4 independent experiments, each carried out in triplicate (bars of each grapevine cultivar marked with the same letter do not differ significantly according to a parametric test of one-way ANOVA).
Figure 3.
PPO (A,B) and SOD (C,D) activities in leaves of the two grapevine varieties healthy (H) and diseased (D), treated with different doses of mannans (0 mg L-1: T0, 1 mg L-1: T1, 2 mg L-1: T2, and 3 mg L-1: T3). The data are means ±SD from, at least, 4 independent experiments, each carried out in triplicate (bars of each grapevine cultivar marked with the same letter do not differ significantly according to a parametric test of one-way ANOVA).
Figure 4.
PPO (A,B) and SOD (C,D) activities in grapes of the two grapevine varieties healthy (H) and diseased (D), treated with different doses of mannans (0 mg L-1: T0, 1 mg L-1: T1, 2 mg L-1: T2, and 3 mg L-1: T3). The data are means ±SD from, at least, 4 independent experiments, each carried out in triplicate (bars of each grapevine cultivar marked with the same letter do not differ significantly according to a parametric test of one-way ANOVA).
Figure 4.
PPO (A,B) and SOD (C,D) activities in grapes of the two grapevine varieties healthy (H) and diseased (D), treated with different doses of mannans (0 mg L-1: T0, 1 mg L-1: T1, 2 mg L-1: T2, and 3 mg L-1: T3). The data are means ±SD from, at least, 4 independent experiments, each carried out in triplicate (bars of each grapevine cultivar marked with the same letter do not differ significantly according to a parametric test of one-way ANOVA).
Figure 5.
(A,B) Transcript accumulation in leaves of the two grapevine varieties healthy (H), treated with different doses of mannans (0 mg L-1: T0, 1 mg L-1: T1, 2 mg L-1: T2, and 3 mg L-1: T3). (C,D) Transcript accumulation in leaves of the two grapevine varieties healthy without treatment of manans (HT0) and diseased treated with the different doses of manans used. Quantitative PCR in CHS1, CHS3, PAL, PPO and SOD (the same letter do not differ significantly according to a parametric test of one-way ANOVA).
Figure 5.
(A,B) Transcript accumulation in leaves of the two grapevine varieties healthy (H), treated with different doses of mannans (0 mg L-1: T0, 1 mg L-1: T1, 2 mg L-1: T2, and 3 mg L-1: T3). (C,D) Transcript accumulation in leaves of the two grapevine varieties healthy without treatment of manans (HT0) and diseased treated with the different doses of manans used. Quantitative PCR in CHS1, CHS3, PAL, PPO and SOD (the same letter do not differ significantly according to a parametric test of one-way ANOVA).
Figure 6.
(A,B) Transcript accumulation in grapes of the two grapevine varieties healthy (H), treated with different doses of mannans (0 mg L-1: T0, 1 mg L-1: T1, 2 mg L-1: T2, and 3 mg L-1: T3). (C,D) Transcript accumulation in grapes of the two grapevine varieties healthy without treatment of manans (HT0) and diseased treated with the different doses of manans used. Quantitative PCR in CHS1, CHS3, PAL, PPO and SOD (the same letter do not differ significantly according to a parametric test of one-way ANOVA).
Figure 6.
(A,B) Transcript accumulation in grapes of the two grapevine varieties healthy (H), treated with different doses of mannans (0 mg L-1: T0, 1 mg L-1: T1, 2 mg L-1: T2, and 3 mg L-1: T3). (C,D) Transcript accumulation in grapes of the two grapevine varieties healthy without treatment of manans (HT0) and diseased treated with the different doses of manans used. Quantitative PCR in CHS1, CHS3, PAL, PPO and SOD (the same letter do not differ significantly according to a parametric test of one-way ANOVA).
Table 1.
Primers used for amplification of grapevine cDNAs.
Table 1.
Primers used for amplification of grapevine cDNAs.
Gene |
F/R |
Sequence 5´-3´ |
Information |
Size (bp) |
SOD |
F |
CTGCGGGTTGGTGTTCTAAT |
superoxide dismutase, chloroplastic/cytosolic VIT_02s0025g04830 |
156 |
R |
TTCCCATATGGTGGTTCCAT |
PAL |
F |
ACAACAATGGACTGCCATCA |
Phenylalanine ammonia lyase VIT_16s0039g01300 |
192 |
R |
GGAGGAGATTAAGCCCAAGG |
PPO |
F |
GGCTTTTCTTCCCTTTCCAC |
V. vinifera polyphenol oxidase, chloroplastic-like (LOC100261681), misc_RNA |
205 |
R |
ATTACAGTCGGAGGCAGGTG |
Actine 1 |
F |
ACTGCTGAACGGGAAATTGT |
V. vinifera actin 2 (act2) mRNA chensunanActin2-S1 AF369525 |
189 |
R |
AGTCCTCTTCCAGCCATCT |
CHS1 |
F |
AGCCAGTGAAGCAGGTAGCC |
chalcone synthase (AB015872) |
155 |
R |
GTGATCCGGAAGTAGTAAT |
CHS3 |
F |
GTTTCGGACCAGGGCTCACT |
chalcone synthase 3 (AB066274) |
93 |
R |
GGCAAGTAAAGTGGAAACAG |
VATP16 |
F |
CTTCTCCTGTATGGGAGCTG |
V-type proton ATPase chensunan16 kDa proteolipid subunit |
112 |
R |
CCATAACAACTGGTACAATCGAC |
Table 2.
Efect of treatment of manans (0 mg L-1: T0, 1 mg L-1: T1, 2 mg L-1: T2, and 3 mg L-1: T3) on the chlorophyll a and b, and total chlorophyll content, chlorophyll a/b ratio, total carotenoids and carotenoid/chlorophyll ratio in leaves of cv. Tempranillo and Airen grapevines, healthy (H) and diseased (D). Chlorophylls and carotenoids are expressed in µg g-1 FW. The data are means ±SD from, at least, 4 independent experiments, each carried out in triplicate (the same letters of each grapevine cultivar or H and D indicate do not differ significantly).
Table 2.
Efect of treatment of manans (0 mg L-1: T0, 1 mg L-1: T1, 2 mg L-1: T2, and 3 mg L-1: T3) on the chlorophyll a and b, and total chlorophyll content, chlorophyll a/b ratio, total carotenoids and carotenoid/chlorophyll ratio in leaves of cv. Tempranillo and Airen grapevines, healthy (H) and diseased (D). Chlorophylls and carotenoids are expressed in µg g-1 FW. The data are means ±SD from, at least, 4 independent experiments, each carried out in triplicate (the same letters of each grapevine cultivar or H and D indicate do not differ significantly).
cv |
Treatment |
Chl a |
Chl b |
Chl a+b |
Chl a/b |
Carotenoids |
Car/Chl |
|
HT0 |
1723.4±52.9c |
1138.6±87.1c |
2861.9±128.7c |
1.52±0.08a |
100.0±13.4ab |
0.030±0.008a |
HT1 |
1560.5±67.0b |
909.1±98.7b |
2469.6±165.5b |
1.73±0.11b |
107.2±16.0ab |
0.044±0.009ab |
HT2 |
1448.4±19.3b |
784.4±31.2ab |
2232.8±49.7b |
1.85±0.04b |
123.0±2.8b |
0.055±0.001b |
HT3 |
1219.8±74.2a |
700.6±73.3a |
1920.4±144.3a |
1.75±0.09b |
95.2±7.4a |
0.050±0.007b |
DT0 |
996.9±68.6a |
439.7±20.6a |
1520.2±104.8a |
2.00±0.10bc |
116.2±4.9ab |
0.078±0.006b |
DT1 |
1134.7±120.5a |
589.2±68.5a |
1724.0±187.2a |
1.93±0.06b |
125.3±12.0ab |
0.074±0.007b |
DT2 |
973.2±211.4a |
485.1±118.9a |
1456.5±331.5a |
2.02±0.07c |
130.0±12.5b |
0.090±0.019b |
DT3 |
1020.4±168.1a |
627.6±120.6a |
1647.9±273.8a |
1.67±0.19a |
107.2±11.2a |
0.053±0.007a |
|
HT0 |
1330.4±70.1a |
668.8±26.3a |
1999.2±95.8a |
1.99±0.03b |
117.6±17.6a |
0.060±0.012a |
HT1 |
1275.0±244.3a |
663.6±163.2a |
1938.6±405.9a |
1.94±0.11b |
118.6±8.8a |
0.064±0.014a |
HT2 |
1066.9±92.4a |
536.3±49.6a |
1603.2±127.1a |
2.00±0.17b |
114.4±19.5a |
0.071±0.010a |
HT3 |
1248.4±208.0a |
747.8±129.0a |
1996.2±331.8a |
1.67±0.10a |
84.5±21.7a |
0.044±0.011a |
DT0 |
868.8±0.8c |
405.6±12.4a |
1274.4±12.0b |
2.14±0.06a |
111.8±11.7 b |
0.089±0.011a |
DT1 |
680.8±85.8b |
303.0±38.3a |
983.8±123.5a |
2.18±0.14a |
115.8±20.6 b |
0.112±0.023a |
DT2 |
647.8±115. b |
314.6±70.7a |
962.4±183.8a |
2.08±0.13a |
83.2±12.6 a |
0.088±0.016a |
DT3 |
509.2±111.5a |
293.4±112.8a |
802.6±216.1a |
2.01±0.25a |
75.5±11.6 a |
0.109±0.042a |