Microbiome-Engineered Grapevines – A Novel Solution for healthy future vineyards

In the natural environment, plants form partnerships with microorganisms. Collectively, the microorganisms are termed the plant microbiome. The plant microbiome can have a significant effect on the growth and health of plants. Grapevine trunk disease (GTD) is one of the most destructive diseases of grapevines, decreasing their yield and longevity. It is caused by a complex group of fungi that can remain latent in the plant for many years before they cause symptoms. There are no resistant varieties of grapevines nor curative treatments available to growers. Mitigation is solely by pruning wound protection, sanitation and re-trunking. Currently this problem causes $137M p.a. losses in Aotearoa-NZ and €1.5B globally. Our preliminary work has demonstrated that individual grapevines thriving in areas of high GTD have a unique microbiome. We will use our understanding of the grapevine and its microbiome to partner grapevines with a customised, gain-of-funcNon microbiome to gain GTD resistance in a sustainable manner.