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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Astron. Space Sci.
Sec. Astrobiology
Volume 11 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fspas.2024.1415376

Grapevines grown from canes having spent ten months in space: study of their downy mildew susceptibility

Provisionally accepted
David Taillis David Taillis 1Aleksandra Burdziej Aleksandra Burdziej 1Charlyne Bautista Charlyne Bautista 1Ferdinand W. Haag Ferdinand W. Haag 2Michael R. Lebert Michael R. Lebert 3*Stéphanie Cluzet Stéphanie Cluzet 1*
  • 1 INRAE ​​Nouvelle-Aquitaine Bordeaux, Bordeaux, Aquitaine, France
  • 2 Other, Luxembourg, Luxembourg
  • 3 University of Erlangen Nuremberg, Erlangen, Germany

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    The control of plant diseases represents a significant challenge in agriculture, particularly with the current emphasis on reducing pesticide use, necessitating alternative approaches. Among them, resistant plant breeding programs offer a promising alternative. Considering the stressful conditions in space, space conditions emerge as an innovative method for advancing crop improvement. This study explored the unique potential of the International Space Station (ISS) environment to induce beneficial modifications in grapevine, resulting in plants with reduced susceptibility to diseases. Canes of two Vitis vinifera L. cultivars, Cabernet Sauvignon (CS) and Merlot (Me), have undergone a 10-month space journey on-board the ISS, while others stayed on Earth (ground control, GC). We conducted a two-year analysis of the response to downy mildew (Plasmopara viticola) of plants developed from ISS and GC canes, called Mother plants. The disease development of progenies produced from Merlot Mother plants was also evaluated. A higher proportion of individuals with low-susceptibility was noted in the ISS Mother group compared to the controls for both cultivars. This trend was also observed for the Merlot progenies. Finally, 11% of Merlot individuals (Mother and progenies, and for the 2 years of study) were distributed in the low susceptibility class. This study suggests that grapevine canes exposure to ISS conditions resulted in an enhanced percentage of plants showing reduction of susceptibility to downy mildew.

    Keywords: Vitis vinifera, Plasmopara viticola, ISS, Space breeding, microgravity, Radiations, Cabernet Sauvignon, merlot

    Received: 10 Apr 2024; Accepted: 17 Jun 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Taillis, Burdziej, Bautista, Haag, Lebert and Cluzet. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Michael R. Lebert, University of Erlangen Nuremberg, Erlangen, Germany
    Stéphanie Cluzet, INRAE ​​Nouvelle-Aquitaine Bordeaux, Bordeaux, Aquitaine, France

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.