Biology subjects

Ferrer, N.

Publications and source records attributed to Ferrer, N..

4 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2025

Stress-dependent responses of grapevine wood and fungal pathogen activity under esca and drought

O_LIBiotic and abiotic stresses alter the physiology of perennial plants, with consequences for fungal endophytes and disease expression. In grapevine, one of the worlds most valuable crops, drought inhibits esca disease expression, but the underlying molecular interactions between plant and fungi are unknown. C_LIO_LIWe combined wood metatranscriptomics, metabolomics, and metabarcoding to investigate these interactions in 30-year-old grapevines and eight wood-pathogenic fungi under conditions of drought or esca leaf symptom expression. C_LIO_LIBoth esca and drought decreased grapevine transpiration, but with different transcriptomic and metabolic signatures. Similar pathways were also activated, including the phenylpropanoid and stilbenoid synthesis pathways. These stress responses could potentially confer cross-tolerance, and elicit different fungal molecular responses. The levels of putative fungal virulence factors increased significantly under both stresses. Under drought, only the relative abundance of Phaeomoniella chlamydospora and gene expression involved in anti-oxidative mechanisms, growth, and reproduction increased. Under esca expression conditions, only the relative abundance of Fomitiporia mediterranea and gene expression involved in wood degradation, competition, detoxification, and growth increased. C_LIO_LIThe grapevine defense mechanisms induced by drought coupled with a low transpiration rate and a low abundance and virulence of F. mediterranea may account for esca leaf symptom inhibition upon water deficit. C_LI

plant biology↗

bioRxiv2025

Differential impacts of drought and esca expression on Ascomycota fungi in the trunks and young organs of mature grapevines

Perennial plant decline is increasingly threatening the profitability and sustainability of agriculture and forestry worldwide. It results from intricate interactions between microbial communities, the plant host, and abiotic stressors. We investigated the effects of drought and esca disease on mature grapevine phytobiomes. Grapevines display no esca leaf symptoms during droughts, but the impacts of drought and esca expression on fungal communities and wood health in mature plants remain poorly understood. We studied 43 uprooted 30-year-old naturally infected vines in three experimental conditions: well-watered asymptomatic (Control) vines, vines with esca symptoms (Esca), and vines subjected to water deficit (WD) over two consecutive summers. We profiled trunk, cane, stem and petiole Ascomycota communities by DNA metabarcoding with primers specifically designed for grapevine trunk-associated Ascomycota, and quantified wood necrosis. The Ascomycota communities of trunks and younger organs clearly differed, and drought and esca had different impacts on the Ascomycota communities of perennial and young organs. In the trunk, drought significantly decreased fungal diversity in healthy wood and increased the abundance of wood pathogens (e.g. Phaeomoniella chlamydospora, Botryosphaeria dothidea). In young organs, esca expression decreased the species richness and diversity of the Ascomycota community to a greater extent than drought. We also found that the relative proportion of healthy wood was smaller in plants with esca symptoms than in control plants. Thus, drought increased Ascomycota pathogen abundance in the trunk but did not increase wood degradation and esca expression, highlighting the need to investigate the molecular basis of plant-microbiome interactions under multi-stress conditions.

plant biology↗

bioRxiv2024

Nitrogen nutrition impacts grapevine esca leaf symptom incidence, physiology and metabolism.

Nitrogen plays a crucial role in plant growth and defence mechanisms, yet its role in plant-pathogen interactions is complex and remains largely unexplored, especially in perennial crops. This study aimed to investigate the effects of controlled nitrogen nutrition levels on disease incidence, fungal communities, and plant physiology and metabolism. Esca is a widespread grapevine vascular disease affecting physiology, xylem integrity and metabolism. Naturally infected Vitis vinifera L. cv. Sauvignon blanc were subjected to three ammonium nitrate treatments across three seasons, resulting in reduced esca incidence under nitrogen deficiency compared with medium nutrition levels, while excess nitrogen had no significant impact. Nitrogen treatments significantly impacted vine physiology and leaf metabolites but did not affect fungal wood communities. Nitrogen deficiency significantly reduced stem diameter, photosynthesis, and leaf area, likely decreasing whole-plant transpiration, while excess nitrogen increased these factors suggesting a key role of plant transpiration in esca incidence. Additionally, nitrogen deficiency led to significantly higher production of phenylpropanoids, particularly flavonoids, in leaf metabolomes compared to the medium level. These findings highlight the pivotal role of nitrogen in the development of esca through alterations in vine morphology, physiology and metabolism. Fertilization practices may be crucial in the management of plant diseases.

plant biology↗

bioRxiv2020

Seasonal and long-term consequences of esca on grapevine stem xylem integrity

Hydraulic failure has been extensively studied during drought-induced plant dieback, but its role in plant-pathogen interactions is under debate. During esca, a grapevine (Vitis vinifera) disease, symptomatic leaves are prone to irreversible hydraulic dysfunctions but little is known about the hydraulic integrity of perennial organs over the short- and long-term. We investigated the effects of esca on stem hydraulic integrity in naturally infected plants within a single season and across season(s). We coupled direct (ks) and indirect (kth) hydraulic conductivity measurements, and tylose and vascular pathogen detection with in vivo X-ray microtomography visualizations. We found xylem occlusions (tyloses), and subsequent loss of stem ks, in all of the shoots with severe symptoms (apoplexy) and in more than 60% of the shoots with moderate symptoms (tiger-stripe), and no tyloses in shoots that were currently asymptomatic. In vivo stem observations demonstrated that tyloses were observed only when leaf symptoms appeared, and resulted in more than 50% PLC in 40% of symptomatic stems, unrelated to symptom age. The impact of esca on xylem integrity was only seasonal and no long-term impact of disease history was recorded. Our study demonstrated how and to what extent a vascular disease such as esca, affecting xylem integrity, could amplify plant mortality by hydraulic failure. HighlightOur study reveals that esca can critically affect xylem water movement in grapevine perennial organs, by the presence of plant-derived tyloses.

plant biology↗